Tag: ARC

Posted in Reviews

REVIEW: “Say Yes Summer” by Lindsay Roth Culli

Posted on by Sarah S.

SUMMARY

The perfect book to kick off summer! For as long as Rachel Brooks can remember, she’s had capital-G Goals: straight As, academic scholarship, college of her dreams. And it’s all paid off–after years of following the rules and acing every exam, Rachel is graduating at the top of her class and ready to celebrate by . . . doing absolutely nothing. Because Rachel Brooks has spent most of high school saying no. No to dances, no to parties, and most especially, no to boys.

Now, for the first time in her life, there’s nothing stopping Rachel from having a little fun–nothing, that is, except herself. So when she stumbles on a beat up old self-help book–A SEASON OF YES!–a crazy idea pops into her head: What if she just said yes to . . . everything?

And so begins a summer of yes. Yes to new experiences and big mistakes, yes to rekindled friendships and unexpected romances, yes to seeing the world in a whole new way. This book is a fresh and fun take on the coming-of-age novel that explores the quintessential themes of growing up: taking risks, making mistakes, and, of course, love. And who knows? Lindsey Roth Culli’s hilarious and heartwarming debut may just inspire your own SAY YES SUMMER.

REVIEW:

I have a soft spot for post-high school books right now, for reasons that are probably obvious if you have read any of my past reviews. Maybe it’s preemptive nostalgia for a time that, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, I will probably never experience. Whatever the cause, though, I’m currently rather enamored of books set in the pre-college summer. This one caught my eye for a few reasons.

As an overachiever in high school, I completely empathized with Rachel’s “really? Is this it?” feelings upon graduating and realizing how much she missed out on. No, I never wanted to get wasted with people I would never speak to again, and I still don’t (shudder), not to mention my dating prospects were nonexistent – but I still felt myself wondering what it would be like to have had a high school experience that stood out. So as dumb and impulsive as it admittedly was, Rachel’s idea of spending the summer saying yes to every available opportunity is something I’m probably just desperate enough to try. Reading about Rachel’s new experiences and relationships felt like living an alternate reality of my own life (other than the hot boy suddenly deciding that he liked me…never in a million years) because Rachel’s coming from the same place that I would be. That made them fun to read about. And the tone of the story is so unabashedly optimistic and upbeat that you can’t help but have fun following Rachel’s new adventures in yes-saying.

So, was this a perfect book? Of course not. A lot of the characters weren’t all that well-developed, most of Rachel’s decisions were kind of insane, and the strange love triangle dynamic definitely rubbed me the wrong way. But the writing was great, and ultimately, reading about someone else’s life-altering post-senior summer was exactly the escape I needed from a senior summer that’s shaping up to consist mostly of me sitting on my bed reading books.

ENDNOTES

Best Scene: Clayton and Rachel’s Canada date made me want to hop in my car and make for the Mexican border (which…is 20 minutes away from me so that’s not saying much) ASAP.

What Stood Out: reading this felt like drinking a strawberry milkshake: it’s what you drink when you can’t handle anything else because it’s easy to get down, undeniably delicious, and makes you happy.

What Bugged Me: Rachel’s decision to resolve a love triangle by dating both guys behind each other’s backs came off as all kinds of deranged.

Content: scattered cursing and a few innuendos, but mostly clean.

Rating: 4/5 Golden Grasshoppers

Posted in Reviews

REVIEW: “More Than Just a Pretty Face” by Syed Masood

Posted on by Sarah S.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy. MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE releases August 4th, 2020. 

Summary 

Danyal Jilani doesn’t lack confidence. He may not be the smartest guy in the room, but he’s funny, gorgeous, and going to make a great chef one day. His father doesn’t approve of his career choice, but that hardly matters. What does matter is the opinion of Danyal’s longtime crush, the perfect-in-all-ways Kaval, and her family, who consider him a less than ideal arranged marriage prospect.

When Danyal gets selected for Renaissance Man, a school-wide academic championship, it’s the perfect opportunity to show everyone he’s smarter than they think. He recruits the brilliant, totally-uninterested-in-him Bisma to help with the competition, but the more time Danyal spends with her…the more he learns from her…the more he cooks for her…the more he realizes that happiness may be staring him right in his pretty face.

Review

Oftentimes, the characters I love most in fiction are the ones I’d absolutely hate in real life. Danyal Jilani is one such character. He’s cocky and irresponsible; he knows how attractive he is and hates school – he’d probably drive me crazy in real life. But man, I was rooting for Danyal hard in “More than Just a Pretty Face.” That was consistently how I felt about this book: it was full of heart and charm, and it was almost impossible not to love and root for our leads, Bisma and Danyal. Their romance was sweet, they were compelling characters on their own, and I really felt for them through their struggles. 

Additionally, this is one of those rare rom-coms that’s both plot and character-driven; most, I find, are one or the other. The progression of Danyal and Bisma’s romance, and Danyal’s preparation for the Renaissance Man competition, make up a significant chunk of the story, but so does the character development. (Also, may I just say: I almost never read books with male perspective characters, and I actually really enjoyed reading something in a guy’s voice.) And not only are they balanced, but they feed each other: the character development fuels the romance, and the historical perspective that Danyal gains through Renaissance Man informs his character development – it’s a big part of what teaches him to speak up, which is a major lesson he has to learn throughout the story. I feel like “More than Just a Pretty Face” was trying to do a lot; many books that attempt that fall flat, but this one didn’t. None of the topics that were touched upon felt perfunctory or skimmed-over. 

Overall, this was both a fun read and a surprisingly substantial one, and I highly recommend it.

ENDNOTES

One-Sentence Summary: he may not start as more than just a pretty face, but trust me, he won’t stay that way.

Favorite Scene: hard to choose…the beach scene? Or anything at Remarquable, the French restaurant Danyal works at – I loved the cooking parts of the book. 

Something that Stood Out: the fact that a contemporary rom-com tackled historical issues that are still felt today – I’ve read contemporary/in-the-moment social issue books, but never one that talked about historical issues. 

Something that Bugged Me: really, can’t think of a lot. Maybe the fact that Danyal’s irresponsible behavior is occasionally glorified? But there really aren’t a lot of cases where that’s true. 

Adult Content: scattered cursing; a character’s sexual history is a big part of the plot and is often referenced (never graphically); lots of terrible parenting. 

Rating: 4.5/5 Befuddled Emu

Posted in Reviews

REVIEW: “Today Tonight Tomorrow” by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Posted on by Sarah S.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. “Today Tonight Tomorrow” will be released June 16th, 2020.

SUMMARY

Today, she hates him.

It’s the last day of senior year. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been bitter rivals for all of high school, clashing on test scores, student council elections, and even gym class pull-up contests. While Rowan, who secretly wants to write romance novels, is anxious about the future, she’d love to beat her infuriating nemesis one last time.

Tonight, she puts up with him.

When Neil is named valedictorian, Rowan has only one chance at victory: Howl, a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle, a farewell tour of the city she loves. But after learning a group of seniors is out to get them, she and Neil reluctantly decide to team up until they’re the last players left—and then they’ll destroy each other.

As Rowan spends more time with Neil, she realizes he’s much more than the awkward linguistics nerd she’s sparred with for the past four years. And, perhaps, this boy she claims to despise might actually be the boy of her dreams.

Tomorrow…maybe she’s already fallen for him.

REVIEW

There is something about high school overachiever books that I simply cannot resist. As one myself (oh, the bitter near-miss of graduating third in your class…*sad kazoo music*), I LOVE reading about the high school experiences of kids like me. And I also love enemies-to-lovers romance, and I also love anything set in the PNW, so how could I not love this?

Well, I certainly enjoyed “Today Tonight Tomorrow,” but it wasn’t an instant favorite. Let’s dissect why.

Starting with the characters: pretty much no complaints here. There’s not much depth to any of the supporting characters, but since Neil and Rowan were the entire point of the story, and were alone together for most of the book, it didn’t really take much away from the story since they were very real and fleshed-out. Neil was absolutely adorable, Rowan was…well, she was fine, and both their overachieving nerdiness and enemies-to-lovers dynamic made me *squee.* (I’m not kidding about Neil, though. I want one.) Also worth noting is that both protagonists are Jewish, which is pretty rare in YA; although I’m not Jewish myself, I always appreciate when cultural/ethnic representation in books teaches me something about the experiences of group I’m not part of, and I definitely felt like I learned a lot about what it’s like to be a Jewish teenager in modern-day America from Neil and Rowan’s experiences.  Also figuring much into the story was Rowan’s love of romance novels, about which my feelings were decidedly more mixed. Though I didn’t agree with all of her views relating to the topic (she talked a LOT about how reading romance novels made her far more comfortable talking about sex, something I personally don’t see as overwhelmingly positive since most teenagers I know already talk about sex a gratuitous amount in ways that majorly freak me out), it is always cool to see a protagonist who loves to read and write as much as I do. And even though I didn’t agree with her on all counts, Rowan’s musings on the romance genre gave me a lot of food for thought about the stigma associated with certain female-dominated forms of entertainment and how it affects the young women who love them. (I’ve definitely felt that, though not with romance novels.) I also loved Rowan’s parents, though they got little screen time – they were adorable. So this gets an A for the rep and the portrayal of high school nerds, but I’m a little more on the fence about other aspects of Rowan’s characterization.

The story itself was a great deal of fun across the board. I loved the idea of The Howl, which filled me with an INTENSE preemptive nostalgia for my high school days (I don’t graduate until May, so…), and even though I’m not from Seattle, I recognized a lot of the landmarks the book mentioned from a vacation a few years back, so it was cool to be able to visualize the places they were visiting. Seeing Rowan and Neil slowly open up to each other throughout the night, going from enemies to reluctant allies to friends to maybe-something-more, was delicious – the tension was wonderfully built-up and, I felt, heaps more realistic than the majority of enemies-to-lovers stories. (The fact that they had so much history made their eventual confession a lot more believable than it might otherwise have been.) And I LOVE Solomon’s writing style! Some of the turns of phrase in this had me cackling, and I found myself totally sucked in by the prose alone. This book is a great example of an author whose writing style melds perfectly with the story she’s telling, and it shows.

In the end, this was a ton of fun to read, but I still felt a little uneasy as I was working through it. I love the characters, tension, setting, and premise, but the amount of sex talk in this book – a lot of it not necessary to move the plot along – made me really antsy at times. As most of you who’ve read some of my previous reviews know, I personally prefer cleaner books, and although it was worth wading through pages of Rowan going off about why the well-known steaminess of most romance novels isn’t actually bad to get the rest of the fun, compelling story, I was just…not comfortable with it. I wish some of it could’ve been toned down, but oh well…I guess this one wasn’t *quite* for me.

ENDNOTES

One-Sentence Summary: nerds who hate each other realize that they’ve got a lot more pent-up love than they perhaps realized.

Favorite Scene: the bench almost-kiss, and the cinnamon roll scene. 🙂

Something that Stood Out: the glorious nerdiness!, the adorable relationship development, the scavenger hunt-y vibe (I love those types of things!), the well-done Jewish rep, and everything about Neil.

Something that Bugged Me: see last paragraph of review.

Adult Content: lots of cursing, lots of sex talk. And I do mean LOTS.

Rating: 4/5 Befuddled Emu

Posted in Reviews

REVIEW: “We Are the Wildcats” by Siobhan Vivian

Posted on by Sarah S.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to review an ARC. “We Are the Wildcats” will be released March 31st, 2020.

SUMMARY

Tomorrow, the Wildcat varsity field hockey squad will play the first game of their new season. But at tonight’s team sleepover, the girls are all about forging the bonds of trust, loyalty, and friendship necessary to win.

Everything hinges on the midnight initiation ceremony—a beloved tradition and the only facet of being a Wildcat that the girls control. Until now.

Coach—a handsome former college player revered and feared in equal measure—changes the plan and spins his team on a new adventure. One where they take a rival team’s mascot for a joyride, crash a party in their pajamas, break into the high school for the perfect picture.

But as the girls slip out of their comfort zone, so do some long-held secrets. And just how far they’re willing to go for their team takes them all—especially Coach—by surprise.

A testament to the strength and resilience of modern teenage girls, We Are the Wildcats will have readers cheering.

REVIEW

This was not exactly what it promised it would be. Well, not in all ways, at least. But let’s start with the positives.

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THIS BOOK 

  1. The field hockey. I know next to nothing about field hockey (I thought it was the same as lacrosse until this book compelled me to Google it and find out that, no, they’re two entirely different sports), so it could be inaccurate as all get-out and I’d have no idea. But the way Vivian writes field hockey makes it obvious (seemingly so, at least) that she knows what she’s talking about. The descriptions of drills, tryouts, and gameplay were all impeccably-done.
  2. The friendships. No matter how toxic (and I cannot stress the “toxic” part enough) their surroundings are, the West Essex field hockey girls are unabashedly and wholeheartedly supportive of each other. Their friendship and camaraderie are exactly the kind I like to see in books about teenage girls. The Wildcats really do love each other, and I loved the way the older, more experienced players go out of their way to bring newcomers to the varsity squad into the fold. (And that such friendships could form in a problematic training environment is not that far-fetched. When I was a figure skater, my rink was essentially dominated by a verbally-abusive coach, but us skaters all became extremely close in spite of that. When the powers that be are against young athletes, even if they don’t realize what’s happening, they ally with each other.) I’ve only read one of Siobhan Vivian’s other books – “Stay Sweet,” which I was pretty ambivalent on – but two of her books is enough to know that she writes teenage-girl camaraderie extremely well.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THIS BOOK 

So, let’s talk about the coach.

Obviously, it’s stated explicitly in the summary that this dude is going to be a massive jerk. That much is clear. And to be fair, he is portrayed as such, and we absolutely do not for a second sympathize with him. That’s good. But.

It also makes it grind-your-teeth irritating when the girls can’t see what the problem with that is, even when all manner of incidents make it clear that they’re being abused. SPOILERS Of the six main girls, one was physically harmed by the coach; another was the subject of racist harassment at a game and told to, basically “deal with it”; a third was made to lie to her teammates and act as a spy for their coach; the fourth was encouraged to play through a severe ACL injury, needed multiple surgeries, and was blamed for it by the coach even though she told him she couldn’t keep playing and was forced to; the fifth was harassed by the coach for dying her hair; and the sixth had an extremely inappropriate, borderline-romantic relationship with said coach that existed only as an excuse to manipulate her emotionally. END SPOILERS I know it can be hard to see that you’re being manipulated; for one of the girls, I can understand why she never saw the issue with her treatment. But all five of the others clearly stated at some point that they were uneasy with the way their coach was treating them and yet didn’t tell each other about their suspicions; I was waiting for them to do that, but it took until the last twenty pages of a 368-page book for the girls to even casually tell each other, “hey, I think our coach is a major [redacted].” Is there a reason it was difficult for them to come forward? Of course. But did it have to wait until the LAST 10% OF THE BOOK? No, it didn’t. And that delay left me feeling like the story’s vaunted “teenage girls outplay coach” premise was a small subplot, if anything, in a book that honestly had no real plot.

While I enjoyed “We Are the Wildcats,” it lacked the post-read satisfaction factor I was expecting.

ENDNOTES

One-Sentence Summary: not-as-satisfying-as-it’s-cracked-up-to-be-but-still-pretty-decent sports story meets Lifetime movie.

Favorite Scene: the big-reveal scene at the end where all of the girls reveal how they’ve been hurt by their coach. As much as I hated the pacing of it, there was something undeniably powerful about the way each girl reacted to the other’s stories. Also, anything with Ali and Grace, because I loved them together.

Something that Stood Out: the fantastic friendship dynamics and focus on field hockey.

Something that Bugged Me: the fact that not ONE girl made so much as a suspicious-sounding comment about what she’d been through until the big reveal at the end. I get the “it’s hard to come forward” part, but the way it all came to light was a little too neat and a little too planned to be fully realistic. Wouldn’t one of the girls had mentioned something in passing that raised eyebrows?

Adult Content: more uses of the f-word than I have ever seen in a single YA novel, plus the aforementioned coach abuse. (It’s not violent or sexual but could still be very disturbing to anyone who’s been in an emotionally or verbally-abusive situation.)

Rating: 4/5 Befuddled Emu

Posted in Reviews

REVIEW: “Above All Else” by Dana Alison Levy

Posted on by Sarah S.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance copy. “Above All Else” will be on sale October 13th, 2020. [Side note: I will be IN COLLEGE when this is released. WHAT? I’m not okay with this guys  a h. Okay anyway. Back to the scheduled programming of book reviews!]

Summary 

Rose Keller and Tate Russo have been climbing for years, training in harsh weather and traveling all over the world. The goal that kept them going: summiting Mount Everest, the highest point on earth. Accompanied by Tate’s dad, the two will finally make the ultimate climb at the end of their senior year. But neither Rose nor Tate are fully in the game—not only is there a simmering romance between them, but Rose can’t get her mind off her mother’s illness, while Tate constantly fails to live up to his ambitious father’s standards.

Everyone on their expedition has something to prove, it seems. And not everyone is making the best decisions while short on oxygen and physically and mentally exhausted. The farther up the mountain they go, the more their climbing plans unravel and the more isolated each team member becomes. Rose and Tate will have to dig deep within themselves to determine what—or who—they value above all else.

REVIEW

This is it, guys – my last ARC of 2019. Whoa. Crazy, right?

Okay, first off. That cover! Easily one of the prettiest covers I’ve seen this year. That was what initially drew me in but it was the premise – when else are you ever going to find a YA book about teenage mountaineers climbing Mt. Everest? – that made me request it. And to that end, it definitely lived up to my expectations. But in other ways, it really didn’t. Let me explain:

Starting off with the good, the author clearly did her homework. In the author’s note, Levy mentioned having taken several research trips to Nepal (where this book is set) while writing “Above All Else,” and it seriously shows. The setting is incredibly well-captured with the kind of detail that only someone who’d seen the places they were describing firsthand would be able to capture. And although I don’t know enough about mountaineering to say whether the process of the climb was portrayed accurately, it certainly seemed to be. It was obvious that the author’s research on Nepal, mountaineering, and Mt. Everest had been exhaustive. That level of detail made for a great sports/adventure novel even when other aspects of the plot fell short.

I also liked that it struck a balance of life issues and climbing issues. Though Rose and Tate’s quest to climb Mt. Everest was obviously the driving plotline, Levy did well in incorporating the kids’ real-life issues into the central conflict. Both have very believable issues with their families (Rose’s mother is ill, Tate constantly clashes with his father) and in their personal lives (Tate has ADHD and mild PTSD from a climbing accident, Rose and Tate have feelings for each other that they don’t know how to process) that get in the way of their focus on climbing the mountain. And I loved the exploration of what going though such a grueling experience does to you not only physically, but morally and psychologically. I’d never thought about this, but Levy makes in an excellent point in emphasizing that accomplishing a goal that requires so much of you, and that carries such a high risk, really does change you in that it requires absolute self-centeredness. The constant refrain of “is any achievement really worth becoming a person you hate for?” is fascinating. And none of this felt like a distraction from the plot as a whole. But…there was ONE subplot that absolutely did not earn that distinction.

You’ll almost never hear me say this, but I honestly thought this book would have been stronger without the romance.

I know. I KNOW. Me, who will literally always be in favor of a romance being shoehorned into absolutely everything, not wanting one? Shocking. But seriously. For a few reasons, I really wished Rose and Tate had just been friends.

Firstly: their personal issues were poignant enough without the romance that it wasn’t needed to give the book emotional depth. Plain and simple, it was unnecessary, and there was almost no way in which it actually served the plot. It may have been a contributing factor to a big fight they had late in the book, but there were so many other reasons that happened that I can’t very well say that their burgeoning romance caused it. Basically, it accomplished nothing – I felt like it was there just to be there.

Secondly: it came out of nowhere. I know they were best friends, but other than one description of Rose blushing at an accidental touch, there had been absolutely no indication that their love for each other extended beyond a deep platonic bond until Tate kissed her out of the blue around the 40% mark. It was just…weird. They had a great friendship, and I was really hoping it would stay that way because there was no indication that it wouldn’t before that kiss (except in the summary that I didn’t read carefully enough), but nope. I’m almost never the “just let the girl and guy who obviously care deeply about each other be friends” person, but this book was an exception.

And lastly: the way the romantic subplot was written sort of fell into the “stereotypically hormonal teenagers” trap so much that, I’m sorry to say, at times it kind of read like fanfiction. It’s not that it was badly written; the comparison is more just in that this book took every possible excuse to get them in bed together. Even if I wasn’t Super Uncomfortable with sexy stuff in books (I gravitate towards adventure stories partly because they have less of that since you can’t very well get scandalous when you’re fighting for your life…I was wrong), that would have been weird. There was a good 20% in the middle that I had to skim because it got so much more graphic than I was comfortable with. I’m not sure how realistic it was that they went from childhood besties to Uncomfortably Physical after ONE KISS while FACING CERTAIN DEATH? Idk man. It was weird.

All of that sounds super harsh, and I feel bad for being so hard on this book when I actually did really enjoy it. I love sports and adventure books, and the setting was novel and excellently-realized, and I liked the characters (especially the supporting cast), and really, the romance didn’t kill it because *SPOILER* they get separated right after they get together, so it’s not that much of the book *END SPOILER*. And there was one scene at the end that genuinely made me want to cheer. “Above All Else” was a gripping adventure that I greatly enjoyed – its only major flaw was that it tried to be a romance when it really wasn’t.

ENDNOTES

Favorite Scene: at the end, when Tate conquers his internal demons for long enough to rescue some dying climbers who no one else was willing to help – that was the best moment of this entire book by far.

What Made This Book Stand Out: the novelty of the setting and premise, and its impeccably-researched descriptions of Nepal and mountaineering.

One-Sentence Summary: man, this mountain is really out to get these kids…

Something that Bugged Me: …didn’t I already beat that dead horse enough times?

Adult Content: quite a bit of language, TONS of making out (described pretty graphically), and at least one sex scene that’s sort of described but I’m not really sure to what extent because I skipped over that section.

Overall Rating: 4/5 Confused Llamas

Posted in Reviews

REVIEW: “Open Fire” by Amber Lough

Posted on by Sarah S.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. “Open Fire” will be released on March 3rd, 2020. 

I really must be on a war novel kick right now: the last three books I read (this, “My Long List of Impossible Things,” and “The Fountains of Silence” – review of that forthcoming) were all either about a war, or dealt with the aftermath of one. Sadly, “Open Fire” was probably my least favorite of that trilogy – but it still had a lot to offer.

Summary 

In 1917, Russia is losing the war with Germany, soldiers are deserting in droves, and food shortages on the home front are pushing people to the brink of revolution. Seventeen-year-old Katya is politically conflicted, but she wants Russia to win the war. Working at a munitions factory seems like the most she can do to serve her country—until the government begins recruiting an all-female army battalion. Inspired, Katya enlists. Training with other brave women, she finds camaraderie and a deep sense of purpose. But when the women’s battalion heads to the front, Katya has to confront the horrifying realities of war. Faced with heartbreak and disillusionment, she must reevaluate her commitment and decide where she stands.

Review

I have a thing for Russian history that I honestly cannot explain. Since Russian Revolution YA novels are rare birds indeed, I jumped at the chance to read this – and I was surprised to find, after not reading the description very carefully (I saw the word “Russia” and hit download on the spot), that it covered an aspect of the Revolution that I had no knowledge of. It was fascinating to read about the incredible grit that the women of the battalion around which the story centered displayed at a time when they were not given many chances to. I loved that it shone a light on a forgotten part of Russia’s recent past, and it was a very educational portrait of the time. But…

I kinda didn’t feel anything.

Though I learned a lot, I never really felt much of an emotional connection to Katya or her comrades-in-arms. There was a sort of flatness to the story and characters that made it hard to feel for them, and though I wish I could say I had, I never really felt drawn into their world. That made it a little hard to “get into,” and though I blew through it in a few hours, it wasn’t really out of desire to know what happens next to beloved characters. I truly wish I could say otherwise because it’s such an interesting story and sheds light on a historical episode that so few people know about, but ultimately it felt a little bit flat to me. Unfortunately, my final verdict: educational, but bland.

Rating: 3/5 Befuddled Emu

Posted in Reviews

REVIEW: “Meet Me at Midnight” by Jessica Pennington

Posted on by Sarah S.

Thanks to Tor Teen and NetGalley for the ARC. “Meet Me at Midnight” will be released on April 7th, 2020. (I’ll be a legal adult when this goes live…scary.) 

Summary: 

Sidney and Asher should have clicked. Two star swimmers forced to spend their summers on a lake together sounds like the perfect match. But it’s the same every year—in between cookouts and boat rides and family-imposed bonfires, Sidney and Asher spend the dog days of summer finding the ultimate ways to prank each other. And now, after their senior year, they’re determined to make it the most epic summer yet.

But their plans are thrown in sudden jeopardy when their feud causes their families to be kicked out of their beloved lake houses. Once in their new accommodations, Sidney expects the prank war to continue as usual. But then she gets a note—Meet me at midnight. And Asher has a proposition for her: join forces for one last summer of epic pranks, against a shared enemy—the woman who kicked them out.

Their truce should make things simpler, but six years of tormenting one another isn’t so easy to ignore. Kind of like the undeniable attraction growing between them.

Review

This was kind of an impulse-request. I thought it sounded like it could be fun, but for whatever reason, the summary didn’t seem to click with me – it wasn’t an “I must have this book in my hands NOW” read. So I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed “Meet Me at Midnight.” The premise, yes, is pretty unrealistic, but it’s fun, and heartfelt, and kept me guessing. Sidney and Asher’s rivalry is exactly the enemies-to-lovers goodness I was hoping this book would pile on, their chemistry is convincing, and I had a lot of fun with it. I loved tagging along on their adventures and partaking in their shenanigans re: the much-maligned landlord; there was never a dull moment. It was a really fun, escapist, Summer-adventures-you-always-wanted-but-never-had read, and the writing was of high quality as well.

My main issues with this book, however, came with unresolved plot threads. There were several subplots – the one that comes to mind first is Asher’s conflict with his father over career prospects – that were introduced, and mentioned in passing a few times, but never really got satisfying closure. That was less a result of a lack of resolution, and more of a result of the fact that they weren’t even developed enough to have much emotional weight in the first place. I think the story would probably have been stronger if it stuck to the one central conflict. (Also, there were a few typos, but it’s an ARC, so that’s largely irrelevant.)

Ultimately, “Meet Me at Midnight” was a fun, frothy summer rom-com with a surprising amount of emotional heft, but not much of that came from the many distracting side-plots. I enjoyed this read and would definitely recommend picking up a copy when it’s released next April.

ENDNOTES

Very, Very Brief Summary: teens’ annual Summer prank war complicated by the introduction of pesky feelings.

Recommended For: honestly? People who need to get their minds off of things for a while. It’s the perfect book for getting away from your troubles for a few hours.

Possible Objectionable Content: a few smatterings of strong language and some slightly intense kissing that always fades to black.

Rating: 4/5 Befuddled Giraffes

Posted in Reviews

REVIEW: “Every Reason We Shouldn’t” by Sara Fujimura

Posted on by Sarah S.

Special thanks to Tor Teen, NetGalley, and the author for the advance copy. “Every Reason We Shouldn’t” will be released March 3rd, 2020. 

Summary:

Fifteen-year-old, biracial figure skater Olivia Kennedy’s Olympic dreams have ended. She’s bitter, but enjoying life as a regular teenager instead of an athlete… until Jonah Choi starts training at her family’s struggling rink. Jonah’s driven, talented, going for the Olympics in speed skating, completely annoying… and totally gorgeous. Between teasing Jonah, helping her best friend try out for roller derby, figuring out life as a normal teen and keeping the family business running, Olivia’s got her hands full. But will rivalry bring her closer to Jonah, or drive them apart?

WHAT I THOUGHT:

I’m pretty sure this book marks only the second time I’ve been THIS excited to get an ARC. (Like, seriously, the last and only other time was when a publisher granted my NetGalley wish to read “Tweet Cute”. Worth it.) “Every Reason We Shouldn’t” went on my TBR the moment I stumbled across it on GoodReads – at the time, it was so far out it didn’t even have a cover yet – so when I saw that it was available on NetGalley, you better believe I smashed that “request” button. And I got it! Why was I so excited?

Simply put, there just aren’t enough YA novels about figure skating. I should know – I’ve been searching for them since my early teens, when I started reading YA. At the time, I was a serious figure skater, and I was absolutely obsessed with my sport, so it always made me sad that the majority of books available about skating were either middle grade (I actually have read a very good, very accurate MG skating book that I’d recommend, though) or…kinda crappy, TBH. To my knowledge, the only high-profile YA skating book released before this one was “Being Sloane Jacobs,” which I read and was very meh on, mostly because, as a former skater, it drove me crazy that the skating parts of the book were so friggin’ inaccurate. So when I saw that this was a thing, and my request got approved? Heart eyes. I read the entire book within a day of getting the ARC. There were a few considerations that were going to impact my opinion of this book, so let’s see how it stacked up to my lofty expectations.

1. First and foremost: how accurate was the portrayal of figure skating? 

Honestly? For a skating book written by a non-skater (as it appeared from the author’s note, et. al.), it was excellent. The protagonist, Olivia, is a pairs skater, and I was in singles, so I can’t speak to that. But the elements (moves, basically) that were name-dropped were all actual things, and most of them were used correctly. The program they were doing, technically, was pretty on-par with the majority of “just moved up and getting our butts kicked” senior-level pairs programs that you’d see among the lower-ranked pairs at the U.S. Nationals. The only thing I have to point out here is that Olivia apparently has a triple axel, which…highly unlikely. There are only four or five singles ladies at the junior and senior levels (keep in mind that singles skaters usually have to do much harder jumps and spins than pairs skaters) who can land a triple axel with any sort of consistency in competition right now, let alone female pairs skaters. It’s kind of insane that a mid-tier pairs skater would have such a difficult jump in her arsenal when it isn’t expected of female skaters, let alone women in pairs, at all. Otherwise, the portrayal of skating was on-point, even in the non-technical aspects.

Oh, and the “your body goes rogue once you stop skating and you look like a normal person again” thing?

PAINFULLY accurate.

(No, really. I was sixteen when I quit, so I was almost in the same boat as Olivia is here, and the second I stepped off that ice for the last time…poof! Went from looking 12 to looking 25 overnight. So yeah, I felt that.)

2. How much of the rom-com goodness promised by the summary was actually there? 

A good amount, as it turns out.

To start on a positive note: Olivia and Jonah are a lot younger than most YA characters (usually they’re 17-18 and juniors or seniors in high school, while in this book the characters are 15-year-old sophomores), and the development of their relationship really mirrors that. “Every Reason We Shouldn’t” has one of the most realistic portrayals of high school romance I’ve seen in a while, despite being between two characters who aren’t anything like typical high school kids. It isn’t instalove (which annoys me), nor is it enemies-to-lovers (which, though it is an awesome trope, pretty much never happens in high school, to my knowledge), or any other unrealistic romance trope – they start off as friends, and their crushes on each other develop along with the friendship. There’s no fanfare or grand gestures, just shared interests, time spent together, and awkward situation after awkward situation slowly pushing them towards each other. It was…nice. I loved that, as well as how skating – something that matters so much to both of them – is a large part of what brings them together. But once they actually become a thing, that sorta derails. I felt as if they became a little…old-married-couple-ish after they started dating, in a way that no 15-year-olds I’ve ever met have. But mostly, solid rom-com goodness.

3. Were any loose ends left untied? 

Sorta.

The epilogue wrapped up almost everything quite nicely, but the *spoilers* conflict between Olivia and her a-hole of an ex-pairs partner, Stuart “Egg” Trout, doesn’t really get resolved, and I was curious to see how that would work. Never found out – not a huge deal, but still, disappointing.

So, was it worth the wait? 

…It’s a skating rom-com! It may not have been a perfect book, but I’m never going to say “no” and y’all know it.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

One-Sentence Summary: he was a sk8er boy, she said…wait, no, she didn’t, that doesn’t work.

Recommended For: figure skaters, fans of the sport, anyone who likes sports novels (especially of the rom-com variety).

Objectionable Content: scattered cursing, and a LOT of implicit making-out that could be something a little steamier but is left so ambiguous that one can never know.

Overall Rating: 4/5 Golden Grasshoppers

Posted in Reviews

REVIEW: “Wardens of Eternity” by Courtney Moulton

Posted on by Sarah S.

NOTE: thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of this novel. “Wardens of Eternity” will be released on January 21, 2020.

SUMMARY

Ziva Ellison has one memory of her parents, made the day they abandoned her on the streets of New York City when she was three years old. They left her with only a memory and a promise that she had a great and terrible destiny.

Fifteen years later, Ziva discovers that destiny includes powers that she doesn’t understand and can barely control. Her magic attracts vicious, otherworldly monsters, and eventually compatriots to help her fight them. Sayer and Nasira know the secrets Ziva doesn’t; that Ziva is descended from Egyptian royalty and in possession of ancient magic passed down from the time of the gods. They promise to teach Ziva to control her magic and to give her the family she’s always yearned for.

But trouble is brewing in the world around them; darkness is descending on Hitler’s Germany, threatening World War II. As the last heir of a revered Egyptian queen, Ziva is the only one with the power to prevent another costly global conflict. As Ziva navigates her newfound abilities and makes a connection with Anubis and other Egyptian gods, the Nazis are hunting for the ultimate weapon, and Ziva has caught their interest.

THE POSITIVES: an on-page trip to the cinema

I don’t read much action-adventure, nor do I read a lot of books that deal with magic and mythology; “Wardens of Eternity” was a bit of an outside-of-the-box read for me. I love action-adventure movies, so I’m not surprised, but the degree to which I enjoyed this was unprecedented.

The premise of “Wardens” – teenage girl with magical powers finds out she’s the descendant of a powerful Egyptian queen and is swept into a world where mythological deities and creatures meddle in mortals’ affairs – is wholly unique, but it’s got a vibe that feels familiar. It’s like The Mummy meets Raiders of the Lost Ark meets Percy Jackson,  with a plenty of its own unique flavor to spare. The action kept me on my toes, the settings were evocatively painted, and the characters were easy to love. Another thing I loved about “Wardens” was its cinematic feel. This novel would make a fantastic film – I felt like I was reading an action movie, if that makes any sense. The way action scenes and settings are described capture the feeling of seeing, visually, the story as it plays out. It’s hard to capture that very visual feeling in a completely verbal medium, but Moulton does it quite nicely. Oh, and that TWIST ENDING – I did not see it coming at all and there had better be a sequel to this, because there’s way too much that we still don’t know to end Ziva’s story here!

Lastly, as the author explains in a note sent to reviewers, this book was a very personal exploration of what it’s like to be a person of Mediterranean heritage in the United States. I could tell, while reading, that Ziva’s struggles were very much the author’s own, and I appreciated the heart and honesty with which she tackled issues that clearly hit close to home. And we don’t see a lot of Mediterranean POC characters of any nationality  in YA, so Ziva’s Egyptian heritage adds a bit of diversity to the book world in an area not many people are talking about.

THE CONS: a little lacking in polish 

The main issue I had with this book was its writing style. The dialogue came off as very stilted at times; many of the characters seemed to speak in grand, scripted proclamations rather than casually conversing with each other as most people do. This was especially evident because of the fact that most of the story’s social commentary was done through dialogue. There were some very good points about imperialism to be made, but the fact that characters spoke in such an unrealistically lofty manner made it sound a liiiittle heavy-handed and ultimately dampened its power. It was like no one could talk about anything without making a speech. And some parts of the writing seemed like they could have been less clunky. However, the strength of the story was more than enough to make me overlook that.

Also, this isn’t necessarily a knock on the story, but the summary made it sound like “Wardens” would focus much more on Ziva and the Medjai’s attempts to stop the Nazis than it ever did. That plot seemed like it was no more than a brief footnote at the very end of the book. It took at least half the book for Ziva and co. to even leave New York, so most of it was actually focused on Ziva’s training and attempts to discover who she is through her Medjai heritage.

CLOSING

Six-Word Summary: ancient Egypt meets 1930s – chaos ensues.

Recommended For: fans of mythology, Egyptology, or action-adventure stories helmed by Interesting and Capable Females.

Possibly-Objectionable Content: a few heated kisses.

Overall Rating: 4/5

 

Posted in Reviews

REVIEW: “She’s the Worst” by Lauren Spieller

Posted on by Sarah S.

Note: thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the e-ARC – special thanks to Lili Feinberg for going out of her way to make sure that some issues I initially had with the format of the file were resolved.

“She’s the Worst” will be released on (date).

SUMMARY

Sisters April and Jenn haven’t been close in years. Jenn’s too busy with school, the family antique shop, and her boyfriend, and April would rather play soccer and hang out with the boy next door.

But when April notices her older sister is sad about staying home for college, she decides to do something about it. The girls set off to revive a pact they made as kids: spend an epic day exploring the greatest hits of their childhood and all that Los Angeles has to offer.

Then April learns that Jenn has been keeping a secret that could rip their family—and their feuding parents—apart. With only one day to set things right, the sisters must decide if their relationship is worth saving, or if the truth will tear them apart for good.

REVIEW

Holy crap, I did not expect this book to hit me as hard as it did.

Going in, I thought this would be a fun road trip-ish comedy about sisters. Great, funny, entertaining. I love stories about siblings and road trip comedies, so I thought I’d love it. I did – but not for any of the reasons that I thought I would.

I’m not going to lie, there are points where I nearly teared up. I, like April, have an older sibling who’s going off to college this fall, so “struggling to cope with a sibling leaving for college” subplot = cue the waterworks. I also related in that, as a sibling, I’ve been in both Jenn and April’s positions. I’m the younger and more socially-inept sibling, so my parents sometimes treat me as such, like April; but, like Jenn, I’m very focused on academics and tend to take on more of the burdens of maintaining our family than my brother is, and that’s come to be expected of me. Being treated like I have a few screws loose? I get that. But…being treated like an adult who isn’t allowed to make mistakes anymore? I get that too. Watching Jenn and April navigate those challenges felt very real to me, even though my parents are nothing like theirs. I’ve seen very few young adult novels that handled sibling relationships as well as this one did, and my heart is in pieces. That was intense. (Makes me want to hang out with my brother, who – like Jenn – probably has 0 interest in doing so. Oops.)

There were other things going on here – some romantic subplots, the sisters’ college decisions, etc. – but everything else in the story took a backseat to Jenn and April’s day out. My main issue with the book was in that. I understand that that part of the story had to be bleak at points, but I think it would have been well-served if the day-out portion of the story had at least a few light moments in the midst of all the family angst. The situation is supposed to dire, but it need not be so dreary.

All in all, this was an unexpectedly heavy book that meant more to me than I ever could have imagined, and although it could have done with a few lighter beats in between fights, “She’s the Worst” was a very strong exploration of sibling relationships, family dynamics, and what it means to move on with one’s life.

RATING

PLOT: 5/5 – a really sweet idea that was largely cashed in on. A word of warning, though: the premise that was used to advertise the book – a road trip-ish story – takes a backseat to family drama that can’t really be revealed in the description without spoiling things. Understandable – and the plot was still very strong – but there was definitely a bit of a disparity there that some readers who aren’t looking for a story like this won’t expect. Not docking points for that because spoilers are spoilers, but it’s something for readers to be aware of.

CHARACTERS: 5/5 – April and Jenn, essentially the only two characters who matter, read as very real and authentic; I could find things I related to in both of them, and even though they both made awful choices (as was kind of the point), they were genuinely likable and fleshed-out characters.

CONTENT: 3/5 – scattered cursing (some of it very strong), frequent allusions to adult situations that are never shown on-screen, and some majorly dysfunctional parents.

WRITING QUALITY: 4/5 – it’s fine, but a 5 requires *truly extraordinary* writing, and almost no book I’ve read achieves that, so  if tl;dr: good, but not what stands out about the book.

OVERALL: 4.25/5