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REVIEW: A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz

Posted by Anastasia on February 15, 2012 4 Responses »

Feb 152012

029. A Drowned Maiden’s Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz
Publication: Candlewick (March 2, 2010), originally published 2006, ebook, 389pp / ISBN 0763629308
Genre: MG Historical Fiction

Read: February 8-10, 2011
Source: Bought (Amazon)

Summary from Amazon:

Maud Flynn is known at the orphanage for her impertinence. So when the charming Miss Hyacinth chooses her to take home, the girl is pleased but baffled, until she learns of her new role: helping to stage elaborate séances for bereaved patrons. As Maud is drawn deeper into the deception, playing the “secret child,” she is torn between her need to please and her growing conscience. It takes a shocking betrayal to make clear just how heartless her so-called guardians are. Filled with fascinating details of turn-of-the-century spiritualism and page-turning suspense, this novel from Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz features a feisty heroine whom readers will not soon forget.

Review

Things I thought this book was about: ghosts, death, people drowning in some sort of romanticized/gothic romance sort of way, angst and sadness and other things I’m scared of.

Things this book is actually about: ghosts and death and little kids drowning, Spiritualism, con artists, family and love and adorable snarky orphan girls kicking butt! Continue reading »

MINI-REVIEWS: Shades of Simon Gray, The Wander Year, Flawless

Posted by Anastasia on February 14, 2012 No Responses »

Feb 142012

026. Shades of Simon Gray by Joyce McDonald
Publication: Laurel Leaf (May 13, 2003), Paperback, 272pp / ISBN 0440228042
Genre: YA Fiction (magical realism?)

Read: February 4-5, 2012
Source: Bought (UBS)

Mini-Review

I tend to buy books based on whether I like the cover or not, which sometimes bites me in the butt. I bought Shades of Simon Gray because I liked the cover, and my butt was only a little bit bitten. Shades of Simon Gray reminds me of a Lois Duncan novel, only with a little less thriller and a little more “growing up and finding out what sort of person you are.” With some magical realism/time travel/ghost things thrown in. I liked that the characters all had different reactions to the events in the book– some of them decided to do the right thing, to take responsibility for the bad thing(s) they’ve done (without actually telling anyone they were the ones who did the bad thing(s)) and to try to make up for it, while others thought they hadn’t done anything wrong at all. It was a nice spectrum of realistic reactions and personalities and whatever, and I liked it. The added touch of spooky atmosphere, weird biblical plagues, and ghosts just made reading it even more fun.

A book with similar themes (minus the magical realism) would be Nothing But the Truth by Avi, if that helps any. Continue reading »

REVIEW: Entwined by Heather Dixon

Posted by Anastasia on February 10, 2012 4 Responses »

Feb 102012

025. Entwined by Heather Dixon
Publication: Greenwillow Books (March 29, 2011), ebook, 480pp / ISBN 0062001035
Genre: YA Fantasy

Read: February 1-2, 2012
Source: Bought

Summary from Amazon:

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it’s taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He’s trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to “keep” things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

Review

Okay, so: remember when I read Princess of the Midnight Ball and said that I loved the 12 Dancing Princesses story? Still true. I also still love fairy tale retellings! And, joy of joys, Entwined is the sort of retelling that changes things enough to keep it interesting without losing the important bits of the original story. Continue reading »

REVIEW: The Unidentified by Rae Mariz

Posted by Anastasia on February 8, 2012 2 Responses »

Feb 082012

024. The Unidentified by Rae Mariz
Publication: Balzer + Bray (October 5, 2010), ebook, 308pp / ISBN 0061802085
Genre: YA Fiction (dystopic?)

Read: February 1, 2012
Source: Bought

Summary from Amazon:

Fifteen-year-old Katey (aka Kid) goes to school in the Game—a mall converted into a “school” run by corporate sponsors. As the students play their way through the levels, they are also creating products and being used for market research by the sponsors, who are watching them 24/7 on video cameras.

Kid has a vague sense of unease but doesn’t question this existence until one day she witnesses a shocking anticorporate prank. She follows the clues to uncover the identities of the people behind it and discovers an anonymous group that calls itself the Unidentified. Intrigued by their counterculture ideas and enigmatic leader, Kid is drawn into the group. But when the Unidentified’s pranks and even Kid’s own identity are co-opted by the sponsors, Kid decides to do something bigger—something that could change the Game forever.

Review

I love dystopian fiction, but sometimes I get really tired of post-apocalyptic dystopias. Futuristic dystopias, of the kind where the society is still fully functioning and alive and whatnot, are one of my favorite kinds of non-apocalyptic dystopias. Think Feed or Uglies (although I suppose technically that’s a post-apocalyptic society which has become stable again) or even Inside Out. The Unidentified is somewhere along those lines: it’s a futuristic world built on some of the lines that American society is currently traveling on with an emphasis on the negative over the good. So, basically, it’s what might happen if our obsession with reality TV, consumerism, fame/celebrity, plus the government/ad corporations’ obsession with monitoring people, are ramped up to 11. Continue reading »

MINI-REVIEWS: Boy Meets Girl, The Wizard, the Witch and Two Girls from Jersey, Stupid Fast

Posted by Anastasia on February 7, 2012 4 Responses »

Feb 072012

020. Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot
Publication: Harpercollins (January 1, 2004), Paperback, 383pp / ISBN 0060085452
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Read: January 27-29, 2012
Source: Bought

Mini-Review

Sometimes you just want to read something fluffy and silly and easy on the brain, and Meg Cabot’s books are really good for that. I haven’t read many of her adult books, but I think they’re basically like her teen books, only with older characters who have slightly different goals (starting families rather than making prom queen, for instance). Boy Meets Girl is adorable, with adorable characters and an adorable plotline. And as a bonus, it’s written in an interesting way: through emails and phone calls and IMs instead of straight narrative stuff. Continue reading »

MINI-REVIEWS: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Vesper, Dramarama

Posted by Anastasia on February 3, 2012 No Responses »

Feb 032012

017. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Publication: Dell Books for Young Readers (April 26, 2005), Paperback, 352pp / ISBN 0553494791
Genre: YA Fiction

Read: January 26-27, 2012
Source: Bought

Mini-Review

I’ve been meaning to read this book for forever, mainly because it’s one of those generation-defining books that’re so important. I’ve seen bits of the movie and I know vaguely what it/the book is about, so I was expecting something cute and touching and possibly melodramatic. There’s actually not that much melodrama in it, but it IS cute and touching. And kind of boring, to be honest. Continue reading »

REVIEW: ttyl by Lauren Myracle

Posted by Anastasia on February 2, 2012 5 Responses »

Feb 022012

016. ttyl by Lauren Myracle
Publication: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (April 1, 2005), originally published 2004, Paperback, 234pp / ISBN 0810987880
Genre: YA Fiction

Read: January 25-26, 2012
Source: Bought

Review

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that for much of my life I was a Book Snob. I’d see a book like this one, with its bright pink cover, written in IM format, full of pop culture stuff– and I’d think it wasn’t worth my time. That it was silly, or stupid, or most likely both. I’d write it off as a “no way am I reading that” kind of book and that’d be a big mistake. Because ttyl? Isn’t stupid or silly or a book you should ignore. Maybe the cover is a bit over-the-top and maybe some of the pop culture stuff is dated now, but actually it’s a great book in a really clever format. Continue reading »