Turning Pages Reads: RELATIVE STRANGERS by PAULA GARNER

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Jules, a senior, lives with her librarian mother, who is, by Jules' lights, not much of one of mother. She dislikes her job at the library, cares indifferently for Jules, but she lives and breathes painting. And she's got talent, too - but her humanity as a mother and her humanity as an artist seem to be two wildly different things, in Jules' opinion. Sometimes she vanishes into her art and doesn't surface for days. Jules is grateful for the roof over her head, but longs for the kind of mother who asks about her, is interested in her day to day, and who is more like her friends Leila and Gab's mothers - women who show their love by cooking and providing a beautiful home, where nothing is taped together, or cracked. Unlike her mother, who is thrifty and tidy to the point of throwing away even memorabilia, Jules loves antiques, is fascinated by how the world was in days gone by -- but with no grandparents, no antecedents, and no connections, she feels cast adrift in a world full of odds and ends - nothing with real value, nothing anyone would keep, or put in a museum.

Jules - on yearbook staff - has been asking for a baby picture for yearbook for weeks, and now that the deadline has passed, she finally goes into her mother's room to find one... but discovers that there's a nineteen month gap from her newborn photograph to when she's almost two years old. Why aren't there any good, real baby pictures? And, why's there an envelope of paperwork from the Department of Children and Families? What happened in her and her mother's lives? When Jules discovers the answer, her world tilts off its axis. She's always wanted more of what she had - more family, more connection, more life, more love -- and now she realizes that somewhere, she might have had it. Pursuing the connection she finds on the other end the love she feels she's been denied. But, is it really all for her? Does she have the right to it? And, if she tries to grab all of that love with both hands... what happens to everything else? Wanting more can lead to having more, true - and some of the chances Jules takes have panned out into a past and a history she could never have dreamed existed. But, Jules is unable to let go of the temptation to have it all... with predictable results. After Jules is left with her hands empty, she has to learn to accept that you can't have it all in life -- but appreciating what you have is the key to everything.

"It didn't escape me, despite all my angst about family, about finding family and having family and missing out on family that this was a very real thing I had: friends I would drop anything for. Friends I'd take a bullet for. Friends I'd handle dead rats for.

There is more than one kind of family."

- RELATIVE STRANGERS, unfinished copy

Observations: This book will resonate with anyone who has had an unsatisfying relationship with their family, who ever dreamed of having been adopted, or who always wished they could be part of a huge, amazing family, or closer friends with the people with whom they hang out... which means that this book will resonate almost every teen at some time or another. There is such a huge well of wanting in Jules that her desires slip into the heart like a little hook. Is there anything so wrong with wanting more love? More family? More people to pay attention and SEE you? The desires seem innocent - and they are - but the narrative shows how easily pandering to the desire for more than what you have can ultimately overwhelm you.

I don't think I've ever read a YA book quite like this before, which deals with the ignorance immaturity and privilege provides, convincing us to believe the convincing narratives others present to the world, and to envy them in a destructive way in response. Most people can pull back from that brink, identify that the lives we encounter - whether at work or school or digitally curated on Instagram - are airbrushed and carefully displayed for maximum affect. Most of us know that when people are out in public, they wear a public mask... however, this is a book about someone who believed the hype so thoroughly that she allowed herself to wallow in that envy, and made selfish choices based on what she believed she saw, what she believed people had that they could stand to share, and the luxuries of family and affection which she felt she needed but which she hadn't been given.

Garner is a practiced write, and Jules' voice is confident and assured - but there are other YA novels with that confident, wry, snarky voice. What sets this novel apart is that most of us aren't able to articulate the dangers of ...unexamined neediness, maybe let's call it. Jules grieves for what she doesn't have in such a realistic way - and the repeated lashings of grief, the haunting, nostalgic longing, the sadness and the hope blends together to make a truly beautiful, quiet, thoughtful, emotional read. (I teared up repeatedly through the entire last half, surprising myself.) This was an unusual book topically, and I can't imagine how many fewer mistakes I might have made as a teen and nascent adult had I had this book then.

While there isn't a lot of ethnic diversity necessarily, this book has titanium strong male and female friendships and a realistic depiction of the judgment and confusion surrounding understanding friends and a burgeoning sexuality.

Conclusion: A quiet, thoughtful book with humor and insight, and a HUGE miscalculation, which may catch some readers off guard, but to others may be perfectly understandable, if still cringeworthy. A very real book about fumbling our way to a very real understanding and acceptance of who we are, and what we truly need.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. After April 10th, you can find RELATIVE STRANGERS by Paula Garner at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Cybils SpecFic Bookmark: MURDER, MAGIC, AND WHAT WE WORE by KELLY JONES

The Cybils Speculative Fiction Bookmark:

As a panelist for Cybils YA Speculative Fiction, Round 1, I'm going to be briefly writing up some of the hundreds of book I read as part of the award. As panelist conclusions are not for public consumption, the purpose of these write-ups is to keep track of what I'm reading, and will mostly touch on plot synopsis, with minimal comments on thematic tropes.

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Synopsis: Annis Whitworth's world quietly crumples when it's discovered that not only has her father died under rather unlikely circumstances (but why was he traveling on a night with no moon?) that all of his money has vanished. The father she barely knew is, in a way, only a minor loss, but Annis had been promising herself for too long that she was going to get to know him -- and now it's too late. It feels like it's too late for everything, including regret. The servants are sent packing, the lease on the house is terminated, and Annis and her Aunt Cassia are away to make their way as governesses or companions. Only, Annis isn't going to go quietly. As she is taking in a rather ghastly mourning gown, she makes the discovery that she has the power within her hands - and within her needle - to save them. All she has to do is ply her trade -- but despite her friendships with woman who manage shops, Cassia insists that no girl in trade will ever be able to hold her head up. Determined, Annis whips up a disguise and sets herself up as a dressmaker.

For anyone else, it would be a tame endeavor to measure, cut, and sew, tamely minding a shop created solely to outfit Society women, but not for Annis. She saves a friend by chasing off a would-be rapist, delves into the secrets of the Quality, finds clues and trails after strangers. She decides to follow in her father's footsteps and set herself up as a spy. After all, if he could do it, why not?

Observations: Fans of Patricia C. Wrede's SORCERY AND CECELIA, Mary Robinette Kowal's SHADES OF MILK AND HONEY or Gail Carringer's ETIQUETTE series will find a kindred spirit in Annis Whitworth. Grieving, impetuous, and ridiculous, Annis is everything we love about Regency heroines. She is well-dressed and well-spoken, hyperfocused on gossip and Society, completely oblivious to ways to avoid trouble, and slightly unable to avoid saying just the wrong thing. This novel gently mocks the social conventions and the mores of the Regency, while celebrating girlhood friendships, bluestockings, and the flinty spirit of womanhood which, when backed into a corner, is unpredictable and can do ANYTHING.

Conclusion: An unusual magical power, spies, and derring-do bring together a fast-paced and satisfying Regency romp celebrating the power of demure womanhood, and leaves rooms for readers to want seconds.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the public library. You can find MURDER, MAGIC, AND WHAT WE WORE by Kelly Jones at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: BLACKBIRD FLY, by ERIN ENTRADA KELLY

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

It's another Erin Kelly book! I heard a lot of good things about this book from the Cybils crew last year, and was happy to read it. Also, not gonna lie, the title does good things for me, because I can just hear that pretty little guitar riff from the Beatles song. ☺ Content commentary: The bullying in this novel seems pretty brutal to some people, but to me, for middle grade, it feels gruelingly spot on. Your mileage may vary.

Synopsis: Chapel Spring, Louisiana, where Apple Yengko lives, isn't the type of place you'd write songs about. Certainly Apple won't do so, when she becomes famous. She's going to run away to New Orleans where she can have a guitar and make her living from it. Of course, she doesn't have a guitar yet. Her mother won't let her get one, even though music is all Apple has of her father, who died in the Philippines when she was only three. Since they emigrated to the U.S., Apple's mother has become the block in the road to a great many things Apple feels like she needs - like pizza and a normal name, and good friends. Why can't her mother understand the Beatles are everything? Why must they always eat pancit? Why can't her mother stay out of her way, and start calling her Analyn?

Apple knows, if she thinks about it, that it's not anyone's fault that she's on the Dog Log as the third ugliest in the school... and now even her best friends believe that she eats dog - and that her tilted eyes mean she's Chinese. Just as her girlfriends are beginning to "date" suddenly Apple is a social pariah - the boys bark at her in the hall as she passes, and her friends, humiliated by her mere existence, first won't speak to her, then actively seem to hate her... but why? Why don't they care that she's actually Filipino, and has never eaten dog in her life? Why are they acting like the Hot List matters, and listening to the boys? Apple's only escape comes through listening to Abbey Road and other Beatles albums. Her father loved the Beatles, and all Apple has left from him is a single old tape. She holds on to that tenuous link between herself and a man she doesn't really remember, and longs to fly away from her life. When she finds out that her class is going on a field trip to New Orleans, one of the only places Apple has ever seen musicians making a living from their art, she knows where she wants to go, to start a new life. Now, if she could just get a guitar...

As Apple's unhappiness grows, and she bends her natural personality more and more to accommodate her friends, she slowly begins to realize what she's giving up - dignity and character, and for what? For people who don't really see her, and want her to be the same as everyone else. Readers will cheer as Apple learns to stand up against bullying and her new friends help her to cherish the self she was throwing away. And finally, like the blackbird song she adores, she flies.

Observations: Erin Kelly writes emotional books - close to the root of one's feelings, allowing readers into the character's deepest inner mind - yet without making the reader feel guilty about things. Apple falls in line with the mean girls, and through her guilty silence, she shares in their worst behavior. She doesn't outwardly believe in the popularity "tiers" as her friend Alyssa does, but she acts like it, making her complicity actually worse. Because Apple doesn't sit in the seat of the Unassailably Right Behavior Judgment Panel like many other bullied characters do, she is realistically flawed - which as a protagonist makes her easier to relate to and to understand.

Despite her complicity, this is recognizably a redemption story. When it begins, Apple is in a place where nothing she IS is okay, and everything she is NOT is what she wants. She wants to be JUST an American, not a Filipino-American. She wants to be fair and blonde like her friends, have "good eyes," which to her meant eyes with no tilt and no epicanthal fold. She wants to throw away her native language and culture. It takes having a friend who has no special link to a particular heritage valuing her language and food and culture for her to be able to see it as anything worth keeping. Additionally, it's significant that he's white and male -- at Apple's school, where she is the ONLY Filipina, other white males are devaluing her for the same reasons Evan values her. As she learns to look at her mother with fresh eyes, her love outpaces Evan's regard for her culture, and she comes back into valuing herself for her own sake again. This is important, and allows Evan to be simply a catalyst for the work that needs to be done, and not the whole reason Apple sees herself correctly again by the story's end.

Conclusion: In middle school, kids are encouraged to step out of childhood and grow into themselves - but no one can reassure them that their "selves" are okay except their peers, who unfortunately are, at that point, jockeying for position and trying to shine as their best selves. It's an exhilarating and awful time - usually with more emphasis on the awful, unfortunately - but Kelly's characters see themselves through this awfulness into triumph, allowing readers to come along for the ride.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the public library, but it, like all of Kelly's books, is worth not just a Borrow but a Buy. You can find BLACKBIRD FLY by Erin Entrada Kelly at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: MISS ELLICOTT'S SCHOOL FOR THE MAGICALLY MINDED, by SAGE BLACKWOOD

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: The most important thing is Deportment. At the Ellicott School for the Magically Minded Maiden, it is what Miss Flivvers gently forces into maidenly minds. Without Deportment, maidens like Chantel Goldenrod wouldn't know how to sit or to stand or to speak, nor would they know that their best bet was to be 'shamefast and biddable.'

Life has a certain symmetry, even within the confines of School. The Patriarchs send the money, the cook sends the single male factotum, Bowser, to fetch the groceries, and the girls are fed. Not great food, but any number of baked potatoes, so all is well, as far as Chantel is concerned. The city of Lightning Pass needs the magically minded sorceresses-in-training at Miss Ellicott's school to do the hard spellwork of protecting the City from the Marauders, the tribe who live beyond the wall and are simply waiting to attack and carry them off... but Miss Elliott knows that the worst thing would be if the men of the City were frightened of her girls. Chantel's been taught all of this, yes, but the courtesies and nonsense really get up her nose. She just. wants. to. do. magic. Big magic! Wild magic! Possibly loud and dangerous magic! However, she knows better than to balk too much. Miss Ellicott's not too bad a sort, after all, she did tell Chantel that she was The Chosen One... of course, when Miss Ellicott mysteriously vanishes, Chantel finds out that she also told that to Anna, Leila, Daisy, Holly, too...

The Patriarchs without the sorceresses, have no means to protect the City - yet they're in charge. When it turns out that ALL of the sorceresses have vanished, that also means there are no shipments of food coming in from the other side of the Maurauder's Wall, no money for food, and no order in their lives. The mad caretaker the Patriarchs sends wants to sell the girls as slaves. Clearly, Chantel needs to save the sorceresses - and the School - and the City - and possibly the world.

Observations: Though Chantel is written as thirteen, this is probably an adventure type fantasy which will read well for ten-through-twelve as well. This is a familiar and beloved trope for middle grade: smart, feisty girl escapes adult expectations, finds her power, and saves the world. That Chantel is written and pictured as a brown-skinned heroine is even more interesting, though it is only marginally referred to, and doesn't seem to affect how anyone sees her or interacts with her. Chantel is very much the central character in the novel, as Anna and Bowser and Franklin we never learn quite as much about. There is so much detail, though, that readers won't find that a problem. The City of Lightning Pass itself is lovingly described, and the aspects of magic are clearly laid out throughout the book, so the reader is left with few, questions.

This book has the richly detailed worldbuilding and labyrinthine plotting of a serious fantasy novel, but may frustrate younger readers, because Chantel is not in for an Easy Win. She wants desperately to CHANGE THE WORLD... and she's met with pushback from her trusted teachers, who encourage her to believe that the King has all the answers, even though he has zero magic and hasn't himself been where Chantel has gone, from the literal patriarchy in the form of the Patriarchs, who chase her down for her own "protection," from the Marauders, who indeed show up and make trouble, and from her own brain, as what she's been taught to be and what she thinks makes sense to do is disrupted by the squirming in her own head (Snakes... well, never mind. You'll have to read that for yourself). While Chantel is visibly and obviously flawed, eventually - after a bit of self-study - she works things out. The adults, however, are jolly stupid in this book - and Chantel is betrayed frequently by them. When she stops being baffled by the perfidy of adults is when she finally figures out how to change things - thus making the entire book a metaphor for how a magically minded - or a mundanely minded - young lady ought to get on in the world.

Conclusion: I was intrigued by the deportment rules; girls were to be 'shamefast' and biddable. Shamefaced isn't a word, I thought, but it is! It's from Middle English shamefast, schamefast, schamfast, sceomefest, from Old English sċeamfæst, scamfæst and means: “modest, shy, bashful.” I'd say Who knew!? but clearly the author did - so I learned something there. Recommended for serious readers who enjoy a story of a girl who stands tall - and proudly on the right side of history, because she's making it - in the end.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the Newark Public Library. You can find MISS ELLICOTT'S SCHOOL FOR THE MAGICALLY MINDED by Sage Blackwood at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: SAVING MONTGOMERY SOLE, by Mariko Tamaki

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Montgomery Sole would be the sole sign of intelligent life in Aunty, California if it weren't for her best friends Thomas and Naoki. Everyone else in Aunty is pretty scary-stupid, including her eleven-year-old sister, Tesla, at least in Monty's eyes. If it isn't biology killing Monty's soul, it's Matt Truitt, her five-minute crush tormenting Thomas for being gay, and calling Monty a dyke, or it's the SorBetties, the carb-obsessed frozen yogurt queens who seem to only ever worry about being skinny and the right shade of lipstick. The California cliché is alive at Jefferson High where Monty attends - lots of bleached hair, fit bodies and jocks. All of which is both boring and baffling to the overall-clad Montgomery, who wears Momma Jo's oversized, cast-off clothing, and is just satisfied to be dressed. Seen at best as a curiosity, and at worst, as an affront to those of slender and well dressed sensibilities, slapdash, shaggy Monty is kind of a pariah. Luckily, Montgomery and her friends have the Mystery Club, a place to explore the impossible, the curious, the unexplained.

Naoki might be open to everything, but Thomas is the Mystery Club cynic. Regardless, the Mystery Club helps Monty make sense of her life - and so far has given her The Eye of Knowing, a maybe onxy, maybe glass, maybe powerful stone tablet thingy which is supposed to let her see into the future. It hasn't really, so far. But, she's determined to keep trying to look.

When a Christian crusader rolls into town, not much makes sense anymore, even with the Eye helping her see. Touting his power to "save the American Family," Reverend White - with his white hair, white suit, and bright white poster-ready smile - embeds a sliver of fear into Monty's heart that she can't ignore. All she loves and wants to keep safe is already at odds with a town that is ridiculous, repressive, oppressive and homophobic. Monty can't deal with anything as bad as Christians on top of everything else. As a girl with two moms, she already feels like she's half a step from being an alien. It's not fair that everyone always gets to hassle the underdogs. All the indignity she feels at such a lopsided world eats at Monty. She just wants to find a way to stop people from hurting her and those she loves -- and to regain a little of her power. And, if she's found a way, she's going to use it.

Observations: This big-hearted - yet angry! - novel wins on myriad levels for me. Biracial Native Canadian-Japanese girl, Naoki Bigtree is very much her own, enchanting self - enchanting in a good way, of course. Thomas is wise and witty, but the wisdom is hard-won through pain and resignation. Montgomery is droll, observant, and dry-humored. She is also, in her heart-of-hearts, crouched over, gasping, grasping, and very much afraid. She is like us, so much like us that readers will tune in to her frequency with the little twinges in their heart that say, "Oh, yeah. That happened to me." She is afraid and brave and bold and pushing everyone away and holding on with all she has. The contradictory Montgomery Sole may be my favorite character yet for 2016.

I'm always curious at the depiction of family in YA novels. As a genre which routinely offed parents for so many years, or made them stupid or unimportant, it's refreshing to see adults who matter, and I would have loved to see more about the people who inhabit Montgomery's universe. Mama Kate and Momma Jo are funny and human. Naoki's family inhabits its own unique space, with an artistic father who travels frequently, and a enigmatic mother. Thomas seems removed from his family and so Monty and Naoki make up that difference for him. The relationships in the novel resonate.

Conclusion: This novel begins in an understated fashion, quietly. Montgomery can come off initially as smug and comfortable in her we're-too-smart-for-everyone tiny, tight circle of friends. But the fear and the anger - and later, the terrified guilt - covered by this smugness is what resonated with me, and I encourage readers to hang in there through that. Montgomery hates the way the world treats her, and clearly sees its unfairness. She wants to take action -- but really, there's no action to take, but to ...live well. Live loudly. Live. And that's the whole "lesson" or moral, if there is such a thing. I think you'll enjoy this book.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of our friends at First Second. After April 19th, 2016,can find SAVING MONTGOMERY SOLE by Mariko Tamaki at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: PALADIN by SALLY SLATER

I am a big old sucker for girl-disguised-as-boy novels; give me a tough girl with a sword in addition to a disguise and I'm in don't-bother-me-I'm-reading mode for hours. Add to this the fact that I'd read an article this author had written on Huffington Post and you'll know why I was so intrigued -- and in the end, entertained.

"Imagine Game of Thrones with less blood and more gender confusion and you get a taste of this knightly epic."
— The Guardian

Summary: Lady Samantha knows her duty as an aristocrat of the kingdom of Thule - to marry well, produce an heir, carry on the lineage of her father, the Duke of Haywood. Lady Samantha's father is a politician before all else, and he knows the ways of power -- and if her marriage can be used as an alliance to increase his power, purchase, pull or potential, she knows he'll marry her not for her heart, but for her value. It's not fair, really - it's not what he got to do; everyone knows how he and Lady Samantha's mother married to follow their hearts - but at her mother's bidding, Lady Samantha is prepared to do what must be done -- until her mother is killed in an attack near their home. Though her life is preserved by the timely arrival of a gorgeous and heroic Paladin, Samantha's life at home is destroyed, and her father, in his grief, turns colder than ever. Left with nothing but duty the detested duty to marry well, Sam hacks off her hair, and becomes who she feels she's meant to be -- Sam of Haywood, a trainee Paladin.

It's not that easy to shed who you are, even if you can fight okay with a sword -- As Samantha or Sam she is still impatient, impetuous, and brash. She manages okay, getting along with the other trainees, but then she befriends the "wrong" type of trainee - an odd boy with silvery hair and catlike eyes that react to the light, and bizarre tattoos on his shoulder and chest. He's half-demon, half the monsters that killed her mother. As, as it turns out, he's keeping secrets, too...

Peaks: Fast paced adventure with a strong-minded protagonist and secondary characters who are just as intriguing - that's a major plus for this type of book, which has a dual hero/ine's journey going on -- inasmuch as Sam is the main character, her two partners are on their own journeys as well.

Sam - as either gender - is as subtle as a chainsaw. She opens her mouth and sticks in her foot more often than not. Accustomed to apologizing before she gets yelled at, poor Sam is constantly being yelled at - because the behavior of a Lady of Thule does not come easily to her - good thing she can at least excel in swordplay. The girl-disguised-as-boy thing isn't played for laughs; Sam is very well disguised until she has to tell one person the truth. Though she is smaller, she is muscular and quick - but not supernaturally so; she has a lot to learn. I liked the reality of that. Of course, she works with men and boys all the time, and inevitably notices them a little more than she ought - and then to suppress her natural inclinations to touch familiarly the people she likes becomes harder - but not impossible. It's nice that the author doesn't depict males and females as so far apart in behavior that they're creatures from differing planets.

And I'd also like to congratulate the publisher for allowing the character to look tough on the cover. While it's clear here the character is Lady Samantha and not her alter, Sam, the boots and the sword and the rocks give us a good preview into what's ahead in the novel.

Valleys: This isn't a "valley," but the reader should be aware that this is the beginning of a series, and there's no guarantee of when the sequel is going to be out - however, as this is a durably written adventure, rereading it will keep you sated for a little while.

I had questions as I read through the novel - not alarming, can't-keep-going ones by any means, but I wondered where the monsters in the kingdom of Thule had come from, why they were there, whether other kingdoms suffered from them, how it was that they were variously shaped, and not all one kind, and basically just the origin story of that world. When a novel is fast-paced and has a lot of action going on, these are the types of things that can be missed - not to the detriment of the story, but reading this made me want to KNOW.

Though I may have misread or generalized, this novel reads as that sort of Fairytale Landscape that mimics old Europe, and the characters seem to default to having no ethnic diversity, which I hope is merely oversight in reading on my part, but I'm afraid not.

Conclusion:I can strongly recommend this fast-paced adventure with a stroppy female wielding a sword - and if this is your particular catnip, grab a copy of PALADIN for an afternoon of reading that will leave you hoping for more - soon!

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the indie publisher. You can find THIS BOOK by This Author at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: A SCHOOL FOR UNUSUAL GIRLS, by KATHLEEN BALDWIN

Reader, after you finished Robin LaFevers' His Fair Assasains series and powered through Julie Berry's The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place and frothed through the lighter Finishing School novels by Gail Carringer and plowed through Charlie N. Holmberg's Paper Magician novels, did you, perchance, have a yen for something more? Already finished with the Ally Carter Spy novels, you are now ready for some alternate history -- and some more devious, bright, recalcitrant and slightly cutthroat flowers of gentle young womanhood. Long may they reign.

Summary: Stranje House even sounds strange. It's a reform school for girls, and Georgiana Fitzwilliam most ardently does not wish to be reformed. She does not want to learn to take tea, dance properly, or curtsey beautifully. She does not wish to compose pastels and watercolors and sit with her spine properly rigid, as a successfully unexceptional and marriageable miss of the beau monde must do in 1814. All she would LIKE to do is finish her experiment. All she was trying to do was perfect a recipe for invisible ink - the sort of recipe which might have passed invisible orders across enemy lines and saved the life of her brother, who died fighting Napoleon. She had no intention of setting her father's stables on fire, taking out half the neighbor's orchards, nor nearly killing all of her father's hounds and horses. Nevertheless... she has done so, and now the piper must be paid. Stranje House has an iron maiden. A rack. And a handful of possibly dangerous, odd, nosy, pushy girls who have also been abandoned to Ms. Stranje's tender mercies. Georgiana is terrified - furious - and determined to finish that ink. Fortunately, her determination is well-supported. Ms. Stranje wants that ink -- desperately -- and so do two gentleman called Captain Grey and Lord Wyatt. If those fighting to keep Napoleon from regaining power don't have a way to get messages to each other, he may make another try at being emperor of Europe... and that simply won't do.

Peaks: I'm not always fond of alternate history novels because my understanding of Actual History (TM) is muddled enough, but this is a fun and fast-paced "what if" that focuses mostly on individuals and less on the big events. The back of the novel gives a quick update on Actual History vs. Stuff The Author Made Up, which is helpful.

I love school stories to an unbelievable extent. The ensemble cast gives the author lots of time to explore individual girls' stories, and to give more life and shape to some of them who aren't very clear to the reader at this point. They each have mysterious skills, and this being a SERIES just tickles me to death, as there will be plenty of time to find out all we could desire about this school.

I think that the Headmistress having her own romantic leanings is awfully sweet as well, though the school and its students seem to exist in a bubble outside of Polite Society. Aside from a Beautiful Villainness (think Disney Wicked Queen), no one seems to care what any of them at Stranje House do - and I wonder if that will change... Time will tell.

Valleys: The author has previously been known for writing Regency romance - and this book is described as such - so perhaps the heroine be forgiven for a fairly fevered and immediate crush on Sebastian, Lord Wyatt. What surprised me was that it became so serious so quickly - because their interactions were for me not very developed. Kirkus compares their "dazzling wits and flashing eyes" to Darcy and Lizzie, and there's some of that, yes, but I felt their relationship needed quite a bit more time to mature into the "I'd die for you" stage, but what do I know? At any rate, while I personally found it a little ridiculous, I know that I am Old and Crotchety and that myriads of the young romantics will enjoy the heck out of the romance.

I will admit disappointment in Madame Cho, however, one of two non-white British characters in the novel. Because everyone has somewhat of an air of mystery to the blindered Georgiana, and because it takes her forever to twig to the fact that This Is Not Your Mother's Reform School (TM) she is slow on the uptake and doesn't realize Madame Cho character and importance to the school. Unfortunately, really, neither do we.

Madame Cho's first physical description, after "Chinese" and Ms. Stranje explaining that she teaches Asian history and "helps" in the discipline room is "crafty as a black cat." Immediately plunged so far into the cliché of the Mysterious Dragon Lady of the Orient, it doesn't appear that Madame Cho will easily get out. It's a shame that she had virtually no speaking parts in the book and no character development, because, with her only action smacking the girls with her cane, threatening, barking orders at them, or lurking silently around the edges of the room, she simply exists as ...well, a stereotype. I kept searching the story for her -- surely she had more to give to the plot -- but sadly, she disappears 3/4 of the way through the book.

Conclusion: Despite a few flaws and unevenness plaguing this first book in the Stranje House series, there's nevertheless a lot to recommend this quick-paced, romance-saturated romp, filled with quick-thinking, devious girls and their adventuresome exploits. Take a couple of hours to yourself and grab your bag of caramel corn - this book is just as super-sweet and compulsively readable.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Tor Teen, via NetGalley. After May 19th, you can find THE SCHOOL FOR UNUSUAL GIRLS by Kathleeen Baldwin at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: SERIOUSLY WICKED, by TINA CONNOLLY

After being seriously blown away by Tina Connolly's alternate history as depicted in her Ironskin trilogy, I was a bit surprised to see this lighthearted-looking book in my mailbox. Stripey tights and a magic book? Huh. I shouldn't have been surprised that the author used lighter fare to still explore issues of self-discovery and choice. I picked the novel up during lunch, and finished it in just under a couple of hours. The protagonist in this novel is fifteen, which makes this a perfect novel for older junior high readers. Those who loved Justine Larbalestier's HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY and enjoyed the SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES but who aren't quite yet old enough for Terry Pratchett's WINTERSMITH (though the previous Aching novels aren't quite as gritty) or Rachel Hawkins' HEX HALL will get a kick out of the lighter fare in this novel.

Summary: Camellia is pissed. The Witch is at it again, with another impossibly long list of stupid chores to do - and with a new and completely deranged plan to rule the city. I mean, seriously: they have a mayor, they don't need the Witch. But, if your name is as witchy as "Saramine Scarambouche, apparently magically-related chores are what you demand. Sadly, if your name is Cam - or your initials are CASH, which is an awful, terrible "joke" The Witch played on Camellia's real parents when she stole Camellia from them -- you're stuck mucking out dragon cages, walking and feeding werewolf pups, sourcing goats blood and pig's ears, and trying desperately to stop the witch from wreaking the seriously high-level havoc that's going to end with someone's soul being eaten and a phoenix exploding at the Halloween Dance. Camellia is definitively NOT a witch - Not. Even. Close. But, when the stakes get high enough, she's willing to crack a spell book. Because sometimes even ordinary mortal girls have to fight fire with fire.

Peaks: In two words: normalized inclusivity. Even among the seriously wicked, the world isn't all one culture, ethnicity or background, which is lovely and right.

Power struggles between adults and teens aren't written about creatively often enough in YA lit, especially power dynamics among females. Cam's detailed observations of people - her best friend, the girl she loathes, the high school choir teacher, herself and - and her "aunt," all provide a lot of amusement and food for thought. There are truths that are clear in the novel which don't come across as lessons; primarily that true friends always have your back, no matter how entirely bizarre things get; real affection is true to itself; and you can choose to be yourself, no matter who - or what - your parents are. Choice and identity are key in this novel, though with a somewhat frothy and fast-paced plot, readers will be amused and not necessarily realize they're taking in that message with everything else. They'll just rejoice that Cam comes to her own conclusions in the end.

Valleys: Though marketed as YA, this novel will appeal to 7th grade readers - so it might be disappointing to older readers. Some readers may find the "work" portion of the novel slows the pacing, while others may not notice it -- once I was interested in the characters, it was easy to keep going.

Conclusion: A complete departure from her earlier work, this novel may surprise Connolly fans, but it's a nice introduction to her for younger readers who will hopefully find her other books later. It's light and charming, and there's a pet dragon and a boy band. Yes. A boy band AND a dragon. You know you need to read it now.

Know any magic fans who live in Oregon? If you're in the Beaverton area, you can attend the book-launch for this very fun book at the Cedar Hill Crossing Powell's bookstore on May 5th. Wear your stripey socks and -- seriously, Tina Connolly is going to teach a spell... Be there, or be a solar panel salesperson, which has to be the worst punishment, ever.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Tor Teen publicity assistant Desirae Friesen. After 5th May, you can find SERIOUSLY WICKED by Tina Connolly at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: THE LUMBERJANES Vol 1, by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Brooke Allen, and Shannon Watters

It's a truth acknowledged universally &tc. that I am not the artsy person in this blogging duo. A.F. - she draws, she's Cybil'd, she has the degree, etc. - so she has the relationships with the graphic novel companies and the graphic novels are her schtick. I... don't know from graphic novels really, and as I've said before, when I was a kid, the only comic books we got were, like, someone's horrible version of the New Testament in graphic form. It was pretty guy-centric, which ironically is probably why (in addition to the muddy artwork and cheap paper) it wasn't something I wanted to read at all. But this comic book series I really wanted to read - not because Leila pretty well rolled around and squealed about it when it first came out, and not only because it was written by a bunch of ladies but mainly because it was about a bunch of lady-types at a kind of scout-y style summer camp. I did scout-y style summer camp for six years - it wasn't just for hardcore lady-types, and we sadly did not have a Pungeon Master patch, but it represented the kind of hands-on fun that makes summers memorable.

Summary: Five good friends - Jo, April, Molly, Mal and Ripley, and we have no idea how they know each other, but they are apparently friends - are together at the Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Girls Hardcore Lady Types. They're just trying to hang out and have a summer, but Things keep happening - first, Things happen in the woods. Then, Things happen down a hole and in a tunnel. Things keep the girls out of "normal" camp activities (whatever those are), make their counselor, Jen, snippy with them, and get them the wink and the nod from camp director Rosie, a Lumberjane lady-type who herself is fond of the odd adventure - and knows what's behind the Things in the woods, possibly.

Each of the girls has particular (and peculiar) strengths to offer the group - super strength at one point, higher math skills, puzzles and punning, no particular fear of weird glowing eyes/rocks/river monsters, etc. - and in an action-packed story arc that is kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel if someone chose the wrong action almost every time, they lurch from one near-disaster to the next - in an endearing way, with a little bickering and plenty of lady-centric exclamations along the way ("Oh, my Bessie Coleman" has got to be the most ladylike exclamation ever.)

Peaks: I love the layout of the books, which place pictures, scrapbook style, atop open pages of Miss Thiskwin's somewhat rambling handbook narratives on the things which a Lumberjane should be able to do to conquer the natural world (not live in harmony with it, no, no, no, subdue that troublesome puppy). The drawings vary by artist, but the girls are always identifiable by their own particular quirks - a splash of blue hair dye, a coonskin cap, etc. Even the paper on which the book is printed has a really nice feel, which is more important that one might realize.

The next obvious positive is the characters. These girls are completely different from each other - but manage to fit. I would have probably tried to drown Ripley once or twice for her completely heedless, hyperactive plunging into -- everything -- but the girls simply hold onto her and redirect her rather than complain. Which is pretty cool of them. Because there are five girls, one of them sometimes feels like the literal fifth wheel - but no lady-type is left behind here, unlike camp in real life, and the girls are always there for each other, in a non-cheesy, and sometimes somewhat wordless way, which is really nice.

Valleys: There aren't really valleys with this book, per se -- because I'm not really a comic book person, I have little quibbles and objections to things that may just be part of the comic book experience - for instance, I want to know where the girls come from, and if they met at camp. I want to witness them getting to know each other. I want to see more girls and to compare them to the girls in our cabin - is it only Roanoke where things are completely bizarre? Are the girls trying to keep that a secret from everyone else?

Sooo, mainly, the biggest drawback here is that there isn't more story IMMEDIATELY. *sigh* Reader greed, when it's a serial story, is an ongoing problem, which is why I'm likely to continue to buy the books as they come out, instead of getting the weekly comic -- I can't take not knowing NOW.

Conclusion: For my first-ever purchase of a comic book, I feel this was a pretty successful series with which to begin. The fact that these are five girls in a cabin called "Roanoke" gave me a grin - scouting camp in the Bermuda Triangle of lost colonies explains the Three-Eyed Things in the Woods fairly well for me. I love that Rosie is a camp director who enjoys woodwork and looks like a refugee from the 1950's. I love that each girl is allowed to be herself. Whimsical and quirky, this adventure left space for the reader to relate to both storyline and characters (though I really think my camp should rethink not having a pun honor) and included boys, but didn't let them be the center-stage in either campcraft or adventures. It's a happy thought to know the series is ongoing, and I'm ready for the next volume in October.

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I purchased my copy of this book. You can find THE LUMBERJANES Vol 1 by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Brooke Allen, Shannon Watters at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent comic book store near you!

TURNING PAGES: THE SEVENTH BRIDE, by T. Kingfisher

Fans of Patricia McKillip, Juliet Marillier, Brenna Yovanoff, of Holly Black's plot twists, and of a good hedgehog tale will really enjoy the newest from T. Kingfisher, just in time to read whilst you're waiting for your root veg to roast before being mashed. Originally to be a "children's" novel and published as adult, this short novel gallops into YA and on past into CREEPY (think Robin McKinley's DEERSKIN) adultish fiction. For those of you looking for specifics, yes, I still would hand it to an older teen and say, "Enjoy" if that teen were worldly-wise and in need of a novel where, like in a Tiffany Aching novel, a little bit of cold iron (in skillet form) and pragmatism kicks evil's simpering butt. There is dark, dark, awful darkness and twistiness, but I think most older young adults would be fine.

T. Kingfisher's literary underpinnings shine through in a novel which explores the power differential between classes and genders, finding our voices, and holding our ground against the collective weight of society. Through the medium of a heroine's journey, by which she walks the history of the brides before her, our main character moves from childhood to an adulthood we can only envy. Also, did I mention there are hedgehogs? And slugs. These create a winning combination.

Though many prefer the simplicity of the Beauty and the Beast tale for its romantic overtones and ostensible Happily Ever After premise, I have a disturbing predilection for Bluebeard tales. THE SEVENTH BRIDE is loosely based on the 1590 Bluebeard version mentioned in The Faerie Queen, by Edmund Spenser , the one called "Mr. Fox". This is an English version, and it is from where the ominously echoed words, "Be Bold, be bold, but not too bold," come. In this version of the Bluebeard tale, we're never given an indication of who says these warnings; in Kingfisher's tale, we have an idea - a disturbing one, but it could be true. And, as in every Bluebeard tale, Mr. Fox is FULL of the disturbing - and as always, ignorance is the blanket the community weaves around themselves. Words like "all will be well" are an insubstantial and meaningless comfort. It won't be well, anyone with an ounce of brain can see that. When all is said and done, everyone knows there are indeed things worse than death... there's marriage to the baron's son.

Summary: Rhea is just the miller's daughter - she knows flour. She knows mills. She can, in a pinch, wash the dishes and tidy the house. She is NOT in the know about Lords, Ladies, Court, the King, Earl, Barons, or how to behave in Society. Unfortunately, due to a random Baron's son who just happened to wander past the mill... she's about to find out. Rhea's ...engaged. Not through any choice of hers - and it's definitely weird that a baron she's never met or clapped eyes on suddenly wants her. Also, a man that wealthy asking her father for her hand... means that the family's really not got any choices but to give that hand... and that life... and that girl...away. Rhea is in trouble.

What begins as merely disturbing quickly veers toward terrifying. The baron's house lies on a road nobody's ever seen, the house itself - with bony ravens over the gate and a sound-muffling white dust road - is beyond creeptastic. Inside, the floor drops away, periodically, the help is ...disturbingly silent, and no one living at the grand old mansion can tell her anything, really, about the groom to be. When the Baron's son returns, he keeps giving Rhea these little tasks to do, tasks that are graded on a fail/pass kind of thing, and failure means Married Right Now. Rhea's going to do her darnedest to pass, and keep passing -- and pass on the whole marriage thing, too, while she's at it.

Because, real marriage is giving your OWN hand - and respect means letting someone exercise their freedom of choice, under their own power. And, no matter that there are no good choices before her - Rhea's got a hedgehog, which means Rhea will just create some.

Peaks: Kingfisher's narrative style is very like Terry Pratchett's, when he's narrating Tiffany Aching or Susan Sto Helit - this sort of narrative which just shows you the world along the way and keeps murmuring in disquieting tones, "Hmmmm... Okay, now that's weird..." but never sounds too loud of an alarm, until -- well, there's no reason to sound an alarm, because WAH, OKAY, THIS IS BAD, WHAT THE HECK WILL WE DO. I love books like that, where the narrative voice is present, in an unobtrusive manner, and then kind of whisper shouts, This is dire. And then leaves the protagonist to Getting On With Things. (Usually with a cast iron skillet, in a Pratchett novel; here, it's with a hedgehog, because they are seriously Getting On With It kinds of animals. Or, so I've heard.)

The cover is illustrated by the author - and shows a classically elegant simplicity. The pacing is wonderful and you'll just want to sit down and swallow this whole. The fact that the Kingfisher person, in her other writing life, is producing a young adult fairytale collection just makes me really pleased.

Valleys: I found nothing which detracted from the story - nothing. While I could point out that the novel sits in the mold of the Eurocentric fairytale, what with barons and kings and all, it... doesn't. a.) It's based on an English tale, so There Will Be Englishmen, and b.) Far from having the blindingly blonde princess type, there's only sensible, pragmatic Rhea, and c.) this isn't a tale wherein personal appearance makes any difference to anyone. I can't say what Rhea looks like, except that she's not a ginormous prehistoric bird-goddess. We do know, however, that the baron looks like Evil's Eldest Son, and that's really good enough to know we should NOT cheer for him marrying anybody, HEA promised or no.

Conclusion: In the style of that one Ursula Vernon chick who managed to win a Hugo and a Mythopoeic Award, and an whole host of others, T. Kingfisher's hardworking, prosaic and straightforward heroine saves herself - her trustworthy friends - a few future slugs, and the day. This is a hot-chocolate-mucky-afternoon type of novel which will leave you dreaming of fantastic worlds where clocks are portals to another world, all the woodlands connect, and hedgehogs are true and loyal companions. Here's to more fairytales from T. Kingfisher.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of buying it myself. Unfortunately, this is only an ebook just now, but you can find THE SEVENTH BRIDE by T. Kingfisher on B&N, Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords, Kobo, or on the author's site.

TURNING PAGES: SILVERBLIND, by TINA CONNOLLY

I absolutely adored Ironskin by Tina Connolly, found Copperhead a mite disturbing, with its inhabited faces and blindly privileged ladies, and wasn't sure where I'd stand with this last book in the trilogy, which, though a conclusions of sorts, actually stands on its own. (You will enjoy it more if you read the other two books first, as minor characters in this last novel have their stories fleshed out there, but it is NOT necessary.) I was pleasantly surprised by this trilogy conclusion, though I don't think this is "the end" of this world just yet. Because our first look at this world is in the wake of a terrible war, I'm fairly sure the author has a few war stories up her sleeve. But, for now, the tale is finished. And it's another story which is by turns familiar and strange - much like the fey themselves...

Summary:Adora "Dorie" Rochart, whom we first met as an eerie child in Ironskin, is now a young college graduate, struggling through the parallel 1930's British world of avant garde bohemian artists, sexism, and struggling social idealism, keeping her half-fey side under wraps. She's a starving idealist herself - got a degree in cryptozoology and letters of recommendation, but no one's hiring girls, not for field work, not while women can still be kept from certain pubs. It's still a brave new world, though, the new world they all fought for, right? The fey are gone, and it's safe to ignore and condescend to women again. In desperate straits - and well out of rent money - Dorie dips deeply into her fey and becomes Dorian, a rugged boy scientist. After finding a gig to hunt wyvern eggs for a notoriously awful man, Dorian is saved from the job by saving a hapless scientist in the field -- Tam Grimsby, her childhood friend, whom she betrayed so hideously so many years ago. A girl named Dorie is Tam's nemesis, but a guy called Dorian... can love Tam from afar, and work with him every day, with him never the wiser. Too bad about that icy cold Annika, though. These things never end well, and Dorian knows it, but ...

Soon, everyone's searching for wyvern eggs, risking life and limb in field work, but why? Finding out what the Queen's Lab wants with the wyvern eggs puts Dorie into a spin. It's already not right to be hunting wyvern and imbalancing the natural ecology, but for that!? Horrified and determined to undermine the Lab and change the fate of the fey, Dorie drags Tam into her plans - plans which could have them imprisoned, as the Crown steps in to arrest those social idealists who protest and publicly speak out against a tightening royal regime. Eyes are everywhere, and time is running out on Dorie's disguise, too. When a paralyzing choice - in more ways than one - stands before her, Dorie has no choice but to strip away what she is to keep who is important to her.

Peaks: People talk a great deal about "strong female characters," and though the cover model (with the very wrong hair - those are not ringlets!) wearing trousers is meant to evoke the gender-swapping which goes on in the novel, it's also an ironic twist on the facts of the novel: that it's about an unattainably beautiful girl -- beautified through fey magic, just as cover models are beautified via Photoshoppery. I appreciate so much that there are consequences to Dorie donning trousers - it's not an easy shift, it's not flawless and she doesn't have entirely all of the advantages of the male sex. She examines herself and her gender from the other side of the fence, and finds that there are benefits to being herself - this is a rare conclusion in novels where the woman dresses like a man; usually she's just found out and succumbs to the man and puts on pants again. Where's the fun in that? There were multiple strong women in this novel - Jack and Stella are amazing co-stars in this tour de force, as they make their way through whatever means they can into the adult world. They find ways to be true to themselves that work.

The tale of Tam Lim is the tale of a woman rescuing her true love from the queen of the fairies by holding onto him, no matter what form he took. The author hints at this symbolism with the climax of this story, as Dorie finally makes a major choice -- with her whole heart, she holds onto her humanity, and her beloved Tam, and lets all else go. The kind of choices we make when we don't know the outcome are the ones which say who we really are, and in the end, Dorie chose love over gifts.

The strengths of this series have been the subtle way in which the author uses fairytales and classic literature to reframe the conversation about sexism, women's rights, identity, and gender roles. Though there are matters of the heart in this novel, romance is the least important part of the plot -- forgiveness and friendship and owning who you really are come higher in the ranking, which is a pleasant surprise. Dorie's friends are bohemian and diverse - mixed with fey blood or dwarven in race; fully human and lesbian, ironskinned and surviving - and each is someone trusted and held dear. They all struggle in various ways against the "man's world" in which they find themselves, whether "the man" in this case is the increasingly intolerant government or actual men - and find that the best way to be free is to be true to themselves -- though, sometimes there are consequences young idealists haven't imagined.

Valleys: I found myself as taken by this book as I was the first in this series -- I preferred the "romance" here much more than the one in Copperhead, since Dorian's choices mean that the reader doesn't lose a strong woman. Though it might begin slowly for some readers and become a little plot-heavy, while for others who have read the entire trilogy, the timeline jump from the early 1900's all the way to the 1930's might be hard to swallow, there are no real valleys here.

Conclusion: A thought-provoking final novel in the Ironskin trilogy where it's not always the boys who have all the fun, this novel is a good read for a warm early autumn afternoon.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Tor. After October 7th, you can find SILVERBLIND by Tina Connolly at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: HOW TO FALL, by Jane Casey

Summer reading - this is a shove-it-in-your-beach-bag book for sure. A quick, non-demanding novel which will leave you feeling a little leery, and carefully observing your friends. It's a tale of falsehoods and friendship in a tiny English beach town. The cover doesn't exactly match the reality as described in the novel, but it ups the drama. Enjoy!

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Jess Tennant is accompanying her newly-divorced mother from their home in London to the tiny seaside town of Port Sentinel. There's nothing there for Jess -- all her friends, and her father are back in London -- but for her mother, there's a whole childhood and young adulthood, a lifetime of memories, and a twin sister, her husband, and her three children whom Jess has never even met.

And, there's essentially the ghost of Freya. Freya, who was her cousin. Freya, who was almost identical to Jess. Freya, whose battered body was found in the sea below the sheer cliff on Sentinel Rock, who may or may not have flung herself off.

Jess finds the stares and the pointing disturbing -- yes, she looks just like her dead cousin. Get over it, all right? But what she doesn't expect is to be thrust into the weirdness of a small town - the internecine squabbles, the labyrinthine loyalties. Nobody wants to talk about what really happened to Freya -- how she really died. And, too many people are warning Jess to stay out of it.

Maybe that's how they play things in small towns. That's not how it's going to go down with Jess. Freya was family -- and though they've never met, Jess feels responsible - and a responsibility to find the truth.

The View from the Peak: I love family stories - and I love a well-constructed family, where people have natural roles, and ebb and flow in an organic fashion. Freya's family is grieving her loss. Her bedroom is exactly the same - but tidied - her sketchbooks and her things in the art room are the same, but tidied away, though it's been a year since she's been gone. The siblings tell jokes, but just as often step back, with sadness clearly haunting them. It seems like their grief is mostly proceeding normally - some days are worse than others, but over all, they've accepted that she's gone. The descriptions of the seaside town are lovely and quaint, and remind me a great deal of Oban and Largs in Scotland -- little seaside towns in Britain apparently have a lot in common. The characterizations of the village residents are also quite detailed and you can easily imagine yourself there.

The smaller family of Jess and her mother are a little less organic, a little less naturally situated, which leads us to...

The Rest of the Mountain: The "villains" of the piece were easily read and were presented early and clearly, so it's not at all that this was intended to be a mystery. I was more troubled by some of the characterization of Jess herself -- she's meant to be from London, she's sixteen, which means she's fairly independent, nearly done with school, and well able to get around and take care of herself -- and yet, several situations get out of her control, and she's at times oddly passive about them. People kiss her, and she just... lets them, even though internally she objects strenuously. A man touches her, and she feels he's gone WELL over the line, and she flees in fear. She's characterized as being a no-nonsense, sharp person who stubbornly decides to prove what happened to her cousin, and yet seems stopped by things which should not have tripped her up. I suspect the author is laying some ground for a sequel, and that some of the things which disturb me might not have bothered anyone else.

But what truly troubled me was an inability to feel a true connection to the characters of either Jess or Freya, though arguably, we "see" Freya for a much shorter period. We're told that Jess becomes obsessed to find out what happened to her cousin, but I found that I didn't feel any reason for this -- that is, I felt no emotional connection between the girls, and couldn't understand why. I found that to be the weakest part of the book; I was unconvinced that Jess either suddenly or gradually came to so love her lost relative so much that she simply HAD to know the last moments and details of her life. She hit the ground asking questions like a London detective, but few reacted with sincere horror at what should have seemed like a macabre interest. Instead, she got nicely suspicious anger. She asked questions, but more from a sense of pique, it seemed; she could see no one wanted to talk about it, thus she did.

There was no real diversity in this book - of faiths or ethnicity or gender or sex, which is perhaps unsurprising in a small town in England, but it was a tourist town, so it was surprisingly undifferentiated. Most of the characters were from the same class, the same ethnicity, and the same age group. While I felt a little... led through the narrative arc in this story, a little herded through a maze, as it were, the plot unfolded neatly with few surprises for me. Those who enjoy mild thrillers and summer stories will enjoy the heroine's stubbornness, the bad people's ...badness, the hint of romance and the rest of the tight-knit cast of the small town of Port Sentinel.

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Though this book was published in 2013 in Britain, after August 26th, you can find HOW To FALL by JANE CASEY in America online, or at an independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: HOOP DREAMS by Lorna Schultz Nicholson

Hello, Sports Fans!

It's the dog days of summer... well, the puppy days, anyway, and sports are what's on the telly. Sports are what's on the page, too. Despite my complete-klutz status, I love a good sports novel and this fab one comes to us from Canada (what IS IT with awesome Canadian books lately??)'s Lorimer Press. While not a huge fan of photographic covers, when I do like them, it's because they're using models to depict diversity and sass - and boy, there's a lot of sass going on in this one... as befits the captain of the Podium Sports Academy girls basketball team. This is the sixth in the Podium Academy series, which is a high action series with a lot of drama and heart. This fast-paced story has a short narrative arc, but gives us a month-in-the-life of the troubled and cocky Allie McLean.

Concerning Character: Allie's world is a round, orange ball. She lives, breathes and eats basketball, and when the novel opens, she's having the game of her life -- Of. Her. Life. She beats her personal best for overall scoring, and it's the last game of Parent's Weekend. Her shots are brilliant -- all net! -- and the crowd goes wild. Too bad there's nobody with whom she can celebrate -- not her mother or her sister, back in Halifax, not even her billet-mother, Abigail, the cool and emotionless housemother with whom she stays while she's attending Podium Sports Academy. She gives her best friend, Carrie, the rose that should have gone to her mother, and tries to suck it up. It doesn't matter that nobody is there to support her. Allie has basketball. And, in that spherical round bit of rubber, she has EVERYTHING. Right?

But nothing is that simple. Everything is just...weird, and Allie's a bundle of frustrations. First up, her good friend Parmita, who just came out, is acting off. Carrie says Parm is into Allie -- but she can't be. Parm knows Allie's straight, and crushing on Allie would ruin their friendship and make things awkward. And anyway, Jonathon, one of the boys on crew, is super-hot, and he's definitely into Allie, and right now, they're kind of a thing -- even to the point where Allie's thinking he might be The One, and she might not graduate a virgin after all. Parm's critical of Allie's string of guys - one after the other, like beads on a chain, but Allie doesn't want to get all attached and emo, like her mother. After her parents separated, Allie's mother's first boyfriend completely scammed her out of he life savings. How dumb! Allie's not going to be like that. Her scholarship to Podium -- where she's earned a full ride to Duke University on a sports scholarship - is nothing less than a perfect save. If Allie had to depend on her mother to take care of things, she'd be no one, going nowhere. As it is, Allie spent too much time cooking, cleaning and taking care of her two younger sisters. She's been relieved and happy to be back at Podium... but now it seems like fifteen-year-old Kat doesn't need her anymore.

Maybe Allie just won't go home. After all, Jonothan's family is super nice -- his mother texts Allie all the time, just like she's her real Mom. Maybe Allie will add one more thing to her life: basketball, and Jonathon. Maybe, with her family-away-from-home at Podium, that's all she needs... But, if stuff goes down with Jonathon AND her friends at Podium AND her game, what's Allie got left? Can she survive waking up from her hoop dreams?

Critical Reader Reaction: Did I mention that this novel had a lot of drama? Cause it does, as in, "DRA-MA!" in the most sing-songy tone you can say it, which, translated, means "Wow, this novel has some soap opera-esque overtones..." which of course makes it so, so fun. High school drama FTW! And it's the kind of drama which plays well for either boys or girls -- there's a good old brawl on the basketball court, there's relationship drama and family stuff. All good. I found myself, after finishing it, wondering if Parm is ever going to get her courage together again and ask someone else out, if Carrie's going to be okay in Vegas, and if Allie will continue to try and hide the truth about her less-than-perfect family.

Like all the best school stories, this novel plunges you into the quickly moving current of a fully peopled world, full of relationships and backgrounds that you may not know. Though this book is sixth in a series, it read easily and well as a stand-alone, and it's diverse cast flowed together organically. Though it's clearly indicated that Allie has African ancestry - can't miss that mop of Afro - it's not an issue or a problem that shapes the narrative. Okay, so Jonathon's blonde and Allie's not -- and, who cares? Their chemistry is neither complicated nor enhanced by color -- it's not even mentioned, which is kind of startling, but perhaps reflects a Canadian point of view. Either way, I heartily recommend this series to those looking for realistic, high concept, bursting-with-narrative-drama novels with short, easy to digest chapters and a lot of heart.

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This book came to me courtesy of Lorimer Press. You can find HOOP DREAMS by LORNA SCHULTZ NICHOLSON online, or at an independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: THIRTY SUNSETS, by Christine Hurley Deriso

This is necessarily going to be a short book blurb. It's hard to review a book like this one, where so much of what goes on is a secret. The author intended for the reader to be in the dark, so I'll leave you there. Just know that it's a slice-of-life summer read, with quite a few surprises. It's about what you know, what you think you know, secrets kept, and ...why.

I write family stories, so I'm always intrigued by the families and their truths that other authors create. This novel is a "you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll reel" type of story; all of the characters, but especially the narrator get hit with one thing after the next - boom, boom, boom - and while she's ultimately resilient she's still reacting and not acting, and could have really gotten herself into trouble. I found myself surprised that after everything, they manage without the help of a therapist. I don't exactly know how I feel about that, but we'll get back to that in a moment.

Concerning Character: Forrest Shepherd has the right to expect that everything is going to stay the same. After all, for the past sixteen years, it has: her Mom's been her Mom, lovingly micromanaging the whole family and über-controlling at times, her Dad's been the sunny-side-of-the-street calm one, her brother has been gorgeous, popular, and headed for med school, and she's been a word nerd, boyfriend free, and socially a disaster. Every year, the family spends a month at Sparkle Beach, nicknamed Spackle -- and they mooch around in their musty old place, running around, surfing, and just being a family. Except this summer: things have changed. Forrest's brother, Brian, turned eighteen, and gave up his place at Vanderbilt. No more prestigious Ivy med school. Also? He started dating Olivia, one of the snottiest, most beautiful girls in the school, who, typically, is mean, rumored to be on drugs or anorexic, and who makes Forrest feel small and stupid. Then, Forrest's mother goes from control freak to Summer Hostess: she's invited Olivia to spend the month of June with the family at their beach house -- when she KNOWS Forrest can't stand Olivia, and she can't stand her either! What gives!? The house at Spackle Beach has always been Forrest's refuge, but between Olivia - puking after every meal like the anorexic she obviously is, and Mom and Dad's super-vicious arguments, and Brian snarling at Forrest if she even looks at Olivia cross-eyed -- nothing is as it was. Forrest is isolated, miserable, and something's gotta give...

It's a good thing she met a cute guy on the beach. Scott's promised to catch all thirty sunsets with her this month, and until he came along, nobody seems to have even noticed that Forrest's even around. But, Scott notices -- and suddenly, Forrest sees everything in a new light... Suddenly, things have the potential to be good. Olivia might be... okay. All might not be lost, and it might be a fabulous summer, just like always. Or, it might be the summer that changes everything.

Reader Gut Reaction: As I've said, this novel is about Family Secrets. And, there's not just one secret the Shepherds are sitting on. There's two big ones, initially, with a third popping up in the end. There are plot twists that are unexpected -- and honestly, by the end of this summer, there would have to have been, for me, a psychologist's bill for weekly visits. Man! There's a lot that happened in this novel - and the pacing was at times breakneck. I felt like a Weeble, having been punched from all directions, and just wobbling back for more. DRA-MA, wow. And yet, for some people, that's what's going to make this novel un-put-down-able: the chance to sneak a peek into the dirty laundry of another family's life.

At the same time this novel is complicated, it is also very simple: no matter what the issues are, if you love the people to whom you're related, they'll work out -- really. That being said: love is more complex, nuanced, and ultimately harder than just a lot of Kumbaya and Good Feelings. There's a lot of unsolicited forgiveness and understanding in this novel of which I am dubious and critical -- and a lot of unanswered questions about motivation and the "spackle" the family tends to put over the cracks. How do people, who know they're spackling, accept that of each other? Or, more specifically, why didn't the members of the family who knew that secrets were being kept insist that someday, a reckoning would be a difficult thing, and let Forrest know at least one, inevitable truth?

Because the novel takes place within the span of a month, it must have been difficult for the author to find the characters enough time to truly concentrate on accepting their new circumstances and work to digest and assimilate all the new information in their lives. To my mind, some of what was shared should have started a grieving process, and should have seriously been accompanied by some family therapy sessions, even the DIY sort where you all just sit down and check in about how you're feeling! -- and even more, when near the end of the novel, Forrest is seeing something through on her mother's behalf, picking up a burden that isn't hers to bear. Despite what I feel to be seriously unresolved psychological issues, the novel ends with a feeling of reconnection, and overall, a strong family love, which means that the family will survive. If you pull for a HEA regardless of details, this one's for you.

You'll laugh, you'll cry -- and you'll be glad you didn't get invited to the beach house!

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While I got my copy of this novel courtesy of the publisher, in early July 2014 you can find THIRTY SUNSETS by CHRISTINE HURLEY DERISO online, or at an independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: A CREATURE OF MOONLIGHT, by Rebecca Hahn

This is an unusual YA novel. I'm quite a bit in favor of the cover -- the deeply colored night sky, the swirls of the font -- it's just striking, isn't it? I'll bet the author just happy-danced when she saw it. It says "fantasy" without adding, "for girls" or "for boys." It's fantasy for anyone who loves the night, and creatures of moonlight.

This is a novel for thinkers; the plot begins at a stately walk which, honestly, may seem to some readers more than a tiny bit too slow. There is hard work without details, sweat, or the actual experience of broken fingernails, glossed over with an air of unreality -- which is how work often appears in YA novels. For all of this traditional fantasy nvel surrealism, however, there is in the haunting and beautiful prose, the lasting charm of the real.

This novel contains a sprinkling of moonlight and romance... but just a sprinkling. There are courtiers and gossips... but none of them matter. There are dances and dramas, fine foods, fine clothes and flowers... but only one is what our heroine wants. There are kings and queens; princesses, and men, a Goliath and a David with their wills clashing. (There is a punch in this novel that was so viscerally satisfying that I got prickles over my whole body Honestly? There need to be more girls punching in YA lit. I may need to work on remedying that.)

And, there are trees, in the wood... more trees than ever before. There are trees, and, within the dark of the woods, there is knowledge. And really, that's all a girl needs...

Concerning Character: Marni isn't exactly a farm girl, but she's close enough. She's been in rough, patched homespun, scrabbling to tack up vines and uproot bushes, hoeing and weeding and clipping and fertilizing for as long as she can remember. She and her white-haired Gramps live in a simple cottage in the midst of the most beautiful flowers in their corner of the world. Marni has the knack for making them grow, for cultivating the tallest hollyhocks, the most vibrant and scented roses, the prettiest daisies, and the showiest buttercups. Winding around the porch railings are enormous, purple morning glories, and winding through the garden are the intransigent, blue dragon flowers... which Marni doesn't even try to get rid of anymore. Dragons are allegedly in her heritage, after all. Supposedly, her father is a dragon, though Marni has never seen him, and she's sixteen. All she knows is that is an orphan -- that her mother is dead, and that her mother's brother - the King - her uncle is the man who killed him... and would like to kill her, too. Unwanted, by anyone but her grandfather, Marni is used to being the odd girl out, the misfit in the village -- the girl who can read, and can almost speak as nicely as her grandfather. Marni never wondered what would happen, if the courtiers who still came around to talk to her grandfather someday stopped to talk to her. Marni had no ideas above her station at all. She had her little place in the world -- next to her Gramps, in the simple cottage where they live. And, without giving too much detail, so as to provide spoilers, one day Marni's little place in the world is gone -- and what follows next is a heroine's journey out of her small corner into the world, into the great, wide expanses of possibility -- and back again.

Critical Reader Reaction: I promise not to drag the story forward under bright lights and interrogate it for metaphor, but I do find it intriguing that the Woods is a character in this novel -- almost as much as the Woods as a synonym for the evil unknown is a character in any 17-early 19th century novel. The ordered, settled village fears the disordered, wild wood, and yet, the denizens of the wood see it as a veritable Eden, a garden of all pleasures and beauty. The irony of this novel is that each aspect is explored so thoroughly, and it turns out that the wood? Is none of the above. So like most of the things we cultivate assumptions about in life... This book has a very classic feel to it, and much context and subcontext to dissect and discuss. This would be a fun one to use for an English lit class - a delightful, delicious helping of story, and something more.

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I received this ARC courtesy of the publisher. After May 6th, you can find A CREATURE OF MOONLIGHT by Rebecca Hahn online, or at an independent bookstore near you!