Archive | December 2012

Switched by Amanda Hocking

Wendy Everly is trying to be a typical teenager. She lives with her aunt and older brother Matt. They travel around due to her inability to stay stationary at school. She tries to be normal, but with a mother in a mental institution for attempting to kill her when she was six, tends to cause some problems. Wendy tries yet again to settle in to a new school, but the ever-watchful Finn makes her uncomfortable.

A natural loner except for her brother, Wendy can’t shake the feelings that Finn brings out when he’s around. He’s hiding something, something that has to do with Wendy. There’s a reason she doesn’t exactly fit in, it turns out her mother isn’t as crazy she appears. Wendy isn’t just a teenager, but in fact is a troll who’s next in line for the throne of her unknown people…

I wanted to like Switched. I love Amanda Hocking’s story – self-published author that lands an enormous book deal. The premise of the story is great too. I loved the idea of making trolls beautiful and that they exist almost anonymously among humans. However, this wasn’t well executed. The troll people are horrendous despite their physical beauty and gifts blessed by nature. What had the potential to be a fresh new spin of folklore doesn’t deliver. They’re mean, they’re materialistic, and they’re not a race I’d take any further interest in learning about. I don’t like them and that causes a problem with the story.

It saddens me that this kind of writing is what people want. Loose plotlines, poorly developed characters and a love story that doesn’t have any heart. Although it’s YA, I expected more. There was so much room to explore this concept. There are two more books in the series and honestly, I think I’m going to leave them. I don’t like letting series go unread, but this was a major disappointment.

December Reads (2012)

Dec6

I’ll be attempting to read these books this month. Plus a varied amount of ARC’s (Advance Review Copies) and other fiction I’m assigned.

I can’t wait to get started. How are you reading this month?

Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Dec4

Family is important. It’s just June and Greta, the Elbus daughters. Their parents are accountants and life goes on during the late 80’s. Their uncle Finn is an artist and June’s Godfather. He’s painting a portrait of the girls and June adores all time she gets to spend with him, while Greta fidgets. Finn is sick. He’s dying.

Fourteen is too young to lose an uncle, especially to a disease that no one understands. As June’s world fades, a secret from her uncle’s past reaches out to her. There’s a man who was close to Finn, even more than June. She’s torn between wanting to know him and resenting him for all the time he received with her beloved uncle. Unable to move on from her grief, and with others pushing her towards false starts. June turns her back on practicality and takes a leap of faith where no one else is ready to believe.

Tell the Wolves I’m Home is emotional and raw. It’s been over twenty years since AIDS caused an uneducated panic and Brunt has brilliantly captured that timeline. She’s also taken the approach of a teenager who loves someone with this disease and refuses to believe where others accept the first thing they hear. June is wise beyond her years, but she does remain essentially a child. Watching her grow through trauma, grief and teenage angst is more powerful than I expected.

The symbolism used throughout the book is stunning and towards the end I was almost in tears. This is a YA crossover at it’s controversial finest. Contemporary and striking you’ll find yourself eager to get back to June. With relatable family struggles this novel will shake your core. YA doesn’t have to be supernatural and full of romance. There can also be a pure coming of age story where love transcends and Brunt has crafted a magical piece of work.

Drink with Me

Dec3

Rape Girl by Alina Klein

Dec1

Valerie was just being a normal sixteen-year-old, like all the other kids at her school. One weekend her mom went out of town. Naturally Valerie and best friend Mimi throw a party for their Mormon and non-practising Mormon friends (though neither girl believes in the faith themselves). It’s wild, loud and everyone is having fun. Val starts drinking due to her disappointment of her crush Adam not showing up, everyone’s having a great time why can’t she?

When Adam shows up, Val is ecstatic, and drunk. They excuse themselves in front of everyone and sneak off to the living room where she proceeds to throw up all over his shoes. Hung over and miserable the next morning, Val struggles to make breakfast for her six-year-old sister Ainsley. She just wants to lie on the couch and sleep off her headache. As she drifts off she realises she isn’t alone. Adam is suddenly there, everywhere. Confused over her feelings for Adam and what he has done, Val finds strength to report what’s happened. It’s only the beginning of her lifelong journey to be more than just the ‘rape girl’.

I requested this book because I wanted a different kind of YA to read. However, I was sorely disappointed but I am also conflicted with this novella. I think the premise of the book had a lot of potential, but the execution was poor. The story was rushed and there was no time to get to know Valerie, her likes, dislikes, or any kind of personality. Also, every male character except for the brother who’s away at college is written as a ‘villain’.

I understand that this is an important story to tell and that it’s also a very personal one for the author. For that Klein has done a stand out job for describing the process of standing up as a rape victim. Even as Valerie fights with her own demons she never steps down for doing the right thing. The few parts that are well written, you can tell that the author knows what she wants for her characters and what she wants to reflect to the reader. When writing about a tender subject, it can be a challenge to follow the delicate line. I praise Klein for tackling such a personal battle, but I wish that more time were spent on the narrative. Make it 300 pages and give us more in depth characters. I was always on Valerie’s side, but I knew there was more to her and I was sad to see that.

Many thanks to the publisher Namelos for providing this ARC on Net Galley!