Bookanistas Review: Stolen Songbird

I’m just going to say it: Trolls aren’t sexy. Not as I remember them from my childhood, not as they’re portrayed in certain beloved children’s books, and not as they appear in a recent beloved children’s movie. They’re less sexy than the undead, which is saying something.

Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen was the kind of book I kept coming across, getting really excited about, then putting down as soon as I realizes this was a romance. With a troll.

But it was getting really great reviews, and aside from the gross troll-love aspect it really did sound like a great story. And I’m so glad I stopped being shallow for the five seconds it took to buy the book. It put an end to my blatant prejudice against trolls.

Cecile is a great main character—strong and kind, brave, stubborn, and a natural leader. She’s a bit like Belle from Beauty and the Beast in that she’s willing to put her wishes aside to help others. Plus, she makes the most of being kidnapped and held against her will, using the experience not to whine or complain but make a difference.

The setting—an underground city—is wonderfully created and felt completely original. It’s atmospheric, beautiful yet dangerous. It fits well with the plot, which is fast-paced and exciting.

And then there’s the romance. I cannot believe I’m about to say this, but I was all for the troll-human romance between Cecile and the troll prince, Tristan. (It doesn’t hurt that trolls aren’t the giant, beastly creatures written about in stories.) Their romance was slow-building and believable, and I loved how falling for each other strengthened their individual characters. The story is told mostly from Cecile’s POV, but chapters from Tristan’s POV are interspersed, which totally worked.

The bottom line: Forget about gross troll-on-human lovefests. This is a well-done YA fantasy that has me antsy for the second book in the series.

Here’s what the other Bookanistas are reviewing today:

Lenore Appelhans loves We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Tracy Banghart lights up for Streetlights Like Fireworks by David Pandolfe

Jessica Love is on fire for Camelot Burning by Kathryn Rose

Katy Upperman adores Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

What book have you recently loved?

Bookanistas Review: Better Off Friends

Sometimes I get in a certain kind of book-reading mood. I don’t want anything heavy. I don’t want anything complex. I don’t even want beautiful words that make me envious as a writer. I just want something happy.

Like hot chocolate after playing in the snow.

With marshmallows.

The good kind, not the microscopic pellets that come in the pack.

The book equivalent: Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg.

I’m a sucker for best-friends-in-love stories, but even if I were tired of such storylines I’d have found this book adorable. This isn’t an issue book. It isn’t deep and meaningful. It won’t rip your heart out or change the way you view literature. It’s fast—get upset in the morning and you can breeze through this and be smiling by dinnertime. It’s light, kind of like cotton candy. I mean that in the best way possible.

The book is told from the POV of Levi and Macallan, from seventh grade through their junior year. With so few pages, I was worried the story may feel rushed, but it was perfectly paced. The characters were loveable, the conflict real without being too intense, and the romance? Gah, the romance was flippin’ perfect.

The end-of-chapter discussions between present-day Levi and Macallan were funny and sweet and totally adorable.

And, no, there is no limit to the amount of times I can use the word adorable in this review because it’s about the best adjective to describe every aspect of the book. I dare you to read this without a smile on your face.

Here’s what the other Bookanistas are reviewing today:

Jessica Love is out-of-this-world excited about Alienated by Melissa Landers

Kimberly Sabatini is raving about 3:59 by Gretchen McNeil

Katy Upperman is riveted by NIL by Lynne Matson

What’s your favorite best-friends-in-love story?

Bookanistas Review: Crash Into You

I’ve been a fan of Katie McGarry since Pushing the Limits, and each time I read another of her books I remember why the yearlong wait for her next novel always feels like a decade. Just as I loved her previous two YA contemporaries, I loved Crash into You, the third in her Pushing the Limits series. (They’re companion novels, but I’d suggest reading the first two before this.)

There are so many things I enjoyed about this book, not the least of which is Isaiah, the tattooed and pierced foster kid who can’t get a break. I loved Isaiah in the previous two books and knew there was more to the kid than a short fuse and unrequited love for his best friend, Beth. Guys, this kid wants so badly. He wants an out from the pretty crappy hand he’s been dealt. He wants an honest life, even when it’d be easier to resort to crime. He wants a family. And man he does he want love—and not just the romantic kind, which is a major focus of the book, but from family, too.

The book is told in two POVs, which I always love. As terrible as Isaiah’s home life is, Rachel’s is no picnic despite her wealth. In fact, I found myself becoming more frustrated about her circumstances than Isaiah’s. (That’s probably for a couple reasons: A) I knew a lot of Isaiah’s backstory from reading the other books and B) unfairness really gets to me and there was nothing fair about Rachel’s home life.)

Just as Isaiah was a fixture in the previous two books, Noah, Beth, Echo, and Ryan make appearances in this one, and I keep loving them more and more each time. McGarry has a talent for creating such well-rounded characters, from the usual gang to side characters like Isaiah’s friend Abby and Beth’s pal Logan. (Can I petition, right now, for a book involving those two? Or for each of them to get their own book?) Rachel’s four brothers, while incredibly frustrating, have such personality, and while I loved her twin Ethan for the way he looked after Rachel when no one else would, I’m happy the next book in this series will focus on West.

In all, a strong YA contemporary for fans of Simone Elkeles and Trish Doller.

Here’s what the other Bookanistas are reviewing today:

Cory Jackson's fangirls for Fallen Crest Public by Tijan 

Rebecca Behrens is swooning for I Heart Band (#1 and #2) by Michelle Schusterman
Jessica Love is blow away by The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine
Christine Fonseca is intrigued by the Mindjack series by Susan Kaye Quinn
Kimberly Sabatini is mystified by Breaking Glass by Lisa Amowitz

Bookanistas Review: Solving For Ex

Despite the fact that I vehemently believe math is the devil’s work, I 2(25 + 25) percent enjoyed SolvingFor Ex by Leigh Ann Kopans.

Ashley Price, former victim of bullying and current best friend to all-around nice guy Brendan, is a math nerd and otherwise friendless. But that’s okay with her. She has the Mathletes, which she knows she’ll dominate because, you know, she’s a genius. And she has Brendan, who she’s madly in unrequited love with.

Enter bombshell Sofia, who sinks her perfectly manicured claws into Brendan from the moment she and her hot brother Vincent walk into school. Ashley seems to be the only student who isn’t charmed by the siblings’ ritzy lifestyle and killer good looks. But when Brendan falls for Sofia—and puts his friendship with Ashley on hold to be with his new girlfriend—Ashely's small world crumbles. Lonely and upset, she gives in to Vincent’s flirtations. Chaos ensues.

Solving For Ex is a lighthearted, fun read that still manages to take on the aftereffects of bullying (though this isn’t what I’d consider a bullying “issue book”) without coming off as flippant. I loved being thrown into the world of Mathletes, who in this book are the cool kids in school, despite the fact that much of the math they perform looks like hieroglyphics to me. Like I said, I don’t partake in the devil’s work.

The romance was the perfect kind of sweet, but if I say any more I’ll accidentally give away which boy she ends up with. And that’s part of the fun—not so much guessing which guy Ashley will date, but determining whether Vincent is genuine or hiding nefarious goals.

One of my favorite aspects of the book, though, are the little notes Ashley writes with Vincent and Brendan, which sometimes appear at the end of a chapter. The brilliant way in which Kopans used math for laughs is so authentically teen (and, again, over my head). For example:

Adorable, right? Overall, if you’re looking for a fun YA contemporary (or a reimagining of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park), definitely preorder a copy of Solving For Ex. It releases Feb. 11, 2014.

Here’s what the other Bookanistas are reviewing today: 

Lenore Appelhans is loving being on the edge with Dangerous Girls by Abagail Haas

Shari Arnold is intrigued with Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

Christine Fonseca is making a happy noise for The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig

Tracy Banghart is revealing the cover for her upcoming book, Shattered Veil

Kimberly Sabatini is reveling in Your Look Different In Real Life by Jennifer Castle

A Scary Story

Happy Halloween, friends. Imagine me typing away in truly gruesome zombie makeup and a skimpy zombie getup (because rotting flesh is always sexy on October 31). I love Halloween. I love being scared.

I love being scared because I’m generally not scared when it comes to horror movies and books. I have yet to find one that truly frightens me.*

When I tried to consider the scariest book I’ve read, I drew a blank. So I’ve decided to share a book that is in no way horror but includes one of the scariest scenes I’ve ever read. I’m talking nightmare scary. It’s been years since I read this book and I still remember in vivid detail The Scene.

Yes, 1984. Didn’t see that coming, did you? (Or maybe you did because, you know, that video is gigantic.) I still have nightmares of a certain scene in which our protagonist, who like me is terrified of rodents, is tied up and locked in room with rats intent on devouring him. WORST EXPERIENCE EVER. 

And because I’m not recommending any other horror novels, how about a true ghost story? Or a true story from my middle school days that quite possibly involved a paranormal creature?

***

There might have been a ghost and there might not have been. You can decide which option is scarier.

It was a warm autumn day that started with a cold morning. I’d woken too early, as I did every weekday because the school district was determined to singlehandedly ruin my life. It was still early when I finished getting dressed, scowling at the cute outfit that wouldn’t distract from my full mouth of metal. Though I was only in middle school and technically expected to trash my room with discarded clothing and whatever else middle schoolers can’t be bothered to put away, my bedroom was spotless. I am and was and will always be a neat freak.

This is important. As I left my room, shutting off the light before I traipsed downstairs to catch the bus, everything was in its place. Clothes in the closet. Full-length mirror against the wall. Rocking chair in the corner. And a collection of framed photos arranged in a pattern beneath the circular mirror that hung over my vanity.

My father left for work first. Maybe long before the bus came or maybe minutes. It doesn’t matter. My sister and I went next. My mother, who didn’t have a job but was somehow always busy, did something unmemorable that day. The what isn’t the point. It’s the when.

She left the house some time in the morning and didn’t come home until minutes before my sister and I got out of school. It had been hot that afternoon, too hot for the long pants and shirt I’d worn that morning. I went up to my room to change into something cooler, something that wouldn’t have me sweating through hours of homework.

That’s when I saw them.

Four pictures that used to hang on the wall above my vanity lay in the middle of my room. They were too far to have fallen from the wall and tumbled down the furniture. But that didn’t matter. Even if their fall had somehow catapulted them across the room, they would never have arranged themselves, face up, in the exact pattern they appeared on my wall just that morning.

Straight lines, even spaces between frames. The precision with which the photos had been arranged was amazing. It had to be my mother.

Only it wasn’t. Nor was it my father or sister.

For years I thought they had all played a trick on me. I didn’t freak out and I didn’t lose sleep over the practical joke. But I never forgot it. A week ago, I asked my family again who had arranged my photos in the middle of my room. They all denied it. My mom even admitted to real fear over the mystery. My parents changed the locks on our house that week even though there was no sign of forced entry. They too often think about the mystery of the picture frames. It’s impossible to forget.

Because it could have been a ghost, if you believe in that sort of thing. Or it could be someone else. Someone living.

Anyone else have close encounters of a paranormal kind to share? If not, share something scary that’s happened to you!

Here’s what other Bookanistas find frightening:

Tracy Banghart gives us her favorite scary reads
Christine Fonseca brings her top 5 creeptastic reads and her fab 5 creepy authors

*Though I admit to avoiding bug and rodent movies like Arachnophobia that will undoubtedly give me nightmares for the rest of my life and possibly cause a mental breakdown.

Bookanistas Review: The Dream Thieves

Given how much I love Maggie Stiefvater’s writing and how much I thoroughly enjoyed The Raven Boys, I wasn’t surprised that I loved The DreamThieves. It’s every bit as beautiful as the first book, the characters every bit as wonderful.

So instead of telling you about all the things I loved about this book—which is pretty much everything—I’ll give you my top four.

1. Ronan. In the first book, we got to know Ronan through the eyes of Gansey, Blue, and Adam, but The Dream Thieves is very much Ronan’s book. We still have the other three POVs, but Ronan’s is by far the largest. I knew he was a complicated character, but I loved seeing the world through his eyes, seeing how he loved others. (I was especially fond of him when we learn about something he did for Adam.) He’s not as easy to sympathize with as Gansey (who despite my affections for Ronan still remains my favorite Raven Boy), but he’s real and often raw and such a rich character.

2. Adam. I’ll be honest, Adam kind of irked me in the last book. He treated Gansey like crap because he’s a prideful boy, and turned his back on his best friends. In this book, Adam’s no saint. But there’s a point at the end when he finally knows who he is, when he finally realizes that nothing needs to hold him back—not even where he came from. There’s a line I won’t repeat because of spoilers, but another character speaks it to Adam and it’s a beautiful, beautiful moment of self-acceptance.

3. Noah and Blue. Oh goodness. There’s a scene in the book between Noah and Blue that I read twice because it was so adorable. I’m talking jelly beans and cotton candy sweet. The friendship between those two was a surprising and welcome addition to the story, and this scene? One of my two favorite in the book.

4. Gansey and Blue. My second favorite scene in the book is between the two characters I want more than anything to get together but who can’t because, as Blue knows, it’s doomed. There’s such a sweet scene between the two of them that made me smile a sad smile. My only complaint is that these two felt a bit sidelined by other storylines, and I found myself wishing I could have spent more time with them.

And there you have it. Of course, there are a million other reasons for you to pick up this excellent second book, but here’s all you need to know: This is most definitely worth a read.

Here’s what the other Bookanistas are reviewing today:

Christine Fonseca is intrigued by This Is W.A.R by Lisa and Laura Roecker

Jessica Love is crooning for Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell