Review: Broken Hearts, Fences & Other Things To Mend by Katie Finn

Title: Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend
Author: Katie Finn
Genre: young adult, contemporary
Series: Broken Hearts & Revenge #1
Pages: 352
Published: expected May 13 2014
Source: I received an ARC from MacMillan for review
Rating: 4/5

Summer, boys, and friendships gone sour. This new series has everything that perfect beach reads are made of!

Gemma just got dumped and is devastated. She finds herself back in the Hamptons for the summer—which puts her at risk of bumping into Hallie, her former best friend that she wronged five years earlier. Do people hold grudges that long?

When a small case of mistaken identity causes everyone, including Hallie and her dreamy brother Josh, to think she’s someone else, Gemma decides to go along with it.

Gemma's plan is working (she's finding it hard to resist Josh), but she's finding herself in embarrassing situations (how could a bathing suit fall apart like that!?). Is it coincidence or is someone trying to expose her true identity? And how will Josh react if he finds out who she is?

Katie Finn hits all the right notes in this perfect beginning to a new summer series: A Broken Hearts & Revenge novel.

THIS IS A RATHER SPOILERY REVIEW FOR THE NOVEL. PLEASE DO NOT PROCEED UNTIL YOU HAVE READ THE NOVEL.

An unexpected but thoroughly entertaining amount of fun, Katie Finn's first Broken Hearts & Fences novel does not disappoint. If the plot of twisty, angry revenge played out by passive-aggressive teenagers in the Hamptons doesn't sound like a good time to you, you need to sort out your priorities, mate. Though the main plot is wrapped up in the Hallie and Gemma/Sophie drama from before and in the current time, the romantic sideplot is also well-rendered and contains an excellent male love interest. For several reasons, I found myself drawn into Finn's story and ended it eagerly awaiting the sequel.

While reading this, I was struck by how much it felt almost like a murderless Dangerous Girls. The hidden machinations behind the smiles of these two "friends" are in earnest. A lot of teens like to say they "hate" this or that, but Gemma and Hallie know what it is like to really hate another. They know, in detail, what it is like to have a genuine enemy -- a Moriarty to a Sherlock, a Five-Fingered Man to an Inigo Montoya* situation. While neither truly is worse than the other, I admit I was seriously concerned when Gemma plotted having Hallie eat peanuts when she was allergic. That right there, my friend, is pure insanity and so very dangerous. Even if Gemma's other, final plan had much worse repercussions, the fact that was by accident and the anaphylaxis was planned and executed is just.. chilling.

Over the course of the novel both girls go to different depths to achieve their respective goals and it is not a pretty picture that emerges at the end of 350 pages. These are not perfect, nice little Upper East Side princesses, but careful and smart young women who know entirely too much about one another. It seems to be becoming a bit of a cliche, but books set in the Hamptons are notorious for the backbiting and frenemies, the fake people and the partying, all of which Broken Hearts, Fences, & Other Things to Mend have in spades.

Finn is a smart writer. Her writing itself is strong and genuine, but the smartest thing she does is pepper the narrative with small hints and allusions to other, more mysterious parts of the novel. While I had a theory early on about Hallie's relationship with Sophie/Gemma, it's not an obvious twist. The clues are subtle and hidden in the story really well -- if I hadn't had a hunch, I would have missed it entirely until the big finale. I have another theory floating about Karen, the mysterious missing mom of Hallie -- but that will have to wait until the next book.

The first in a series, Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend was exactly what its being advertised as -- a great summer read for the YA-loving crowd. It's light and fluffy (especially the slow burn romance between Gemma and Josh), but there are darker themes and often unpleasant characters. Finn makes the whole endeavor into subversive schadenfreude quite fun, and it's a great launching point for whatever follows in Revenge, Ice Cream, and Other Things Best Served Cold.

*credit to Gillian of Writer of Wrongs

Review Take Two: Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Title: Second Star
Author: Alyssa B. Sheinmel
Genre: young adult, retelling
Series: N/A
Pages: 248
Published: expected May 13 2013
Source: MacMillan for review
Rating: 2/5

A twisty story about love, loss, and lies, this contemporary oceanside adventure is tinged with a touch of dark magic as it follows seventeen-year-old Wendy Darling on a search for her missing surfer brothers. Wendy’s journey leads her to a mysterious hidden cove inhabited by a tribe of young renegade surfers, most of them runaways like her brothers. Wendy is instantly drawn to the cove’s charismatic leader, Pete, but her search also points her toward Pete's nemesis, the drug-dealing Jas. Enigmatic, dangerous, and handsome, Jas pulls Wendy in even as she's falling hard for Pete. A radical reinvention of a classic, Second Star is an irresistible summer romance about two young men who have yet to grow up--and the troubled beauty trapped between them.

If I gave points just for for trying, Second Star would rate up there with my favorites of the year so far. It's undoubtedly an impressive feat that Sheinmel attempts here -- update and adapt the Peter Pan fairy tale (now with drugs!) for a modern, young adult audience. Based on that description alone, how I wanted to love this book. How hard I tried for about 100 pages. Beyond the breaking point of my patience, I felt no emotional involvement beyond noticing how pretty was the writing and how little that ended up factoring into my overall impression with the story. And since I don't give points for just an awesome premise, and while I didn't hatehate the novel, I will probably, ultimately... forget it.

I can't deny that at some points, I mentally rated this book as high as a 3, and as low as a .5 at others. When Second Star is frustrating, it's really frustrating. An exercise in frustration, even. But when Sheinmel's prose is perfect, when her characters aren't continually acting in unbelievable ways, it can be a mindlessly enjoyable read. It's also obvious that Sheinmel has an able grip on conveying certain moods and tones in addition to her writing. It's easy to appreciate (and juxtapose) the author's facility with language while decrying her mishandling the interpretation of the plot. For every lovely phrase, there have to be at least two ridiculous character actions or statements. The ethereal mood of the story can only take it so far -- once the technical and prose aspects are down, the novel lacks sense or appeal.

The characters are where Second Star reaaallly fell apart for me as a reader. They are, as individuals and as a group, ridiculous and incapable of engendering empathy or sympathy. They act in unbelievable ways, say laughable things, do the opposite of what would be authentic for their situations. When the main character of Wendy puts her newly-met love interest(s) above her MISSING AND PRESUMED DEAD brothers... it's hard to care about anyone involved. If I am siding with the parents in a young adult novel, you're doing it all wrong. I know a lot of readers will have more issues with the prominent drug use and Jas's role, but the message that your new boyfriend should trump your personal quest was what primarily made me less than enthused. Way less than enthused.

It's a shame that the execution could not live up to the premise for Second Star. The bones of the story have promise and Sheinmel can certainly write. This is just not the novel it could have been, hampered by silly characters and lazy plot devices. Instalove is no substitute for substance and Wendy needed more agency and passion for herself. 

It was a misfire for me and my coblogger. See her excellent review here.

Review Take Two: The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

Title: The Truth About Alice
Author: Jennifer Mathieu
Genre: young adult, contemporary
Series: N/A
Pages: 208
Published: expected June 3 2014
Source: publishers via NetGalley
Rating: 4.5/5

Everyone has a lot to say about Alice Franklin, and it’s stopped mattering whether it’s true. The rumors started at a party when Alice supposedly had sex with two guys in one night. When school starts everyone almost forgets about Alice until one of those guys, super-popular Brandon, dies in a car wreck that was allegedly all Alice’s fault. Now the only friend she has is a boy who may be the only other person who knows the truth, but is too afraid to admit it. Told from the perspectives of popular girl Elaine, football star Josh, former outcast Kelsie, and shy genius Kurt, we see how everyone has a motive to bring – and keep – Alice down.

Reviewed by Danielle. 

The Rashomon effect is a term that has been used by scholars, journalists and film critics to refer to contradictory interpretations of the same events by different persons, a problem that arises in the process of uncovering truth. The phrase derives from the movie Rashomon, where four witnesses' accounts of a rape and murder are all different. - Wikipedia

Because of the nature of The Truth About Alice, it’s hard to review with any specificity. I want you to learn the truth for yourself. It’s realistic fiction, yes, but there’s an element of mystery that unravels over the duration. Especially in the beginning, the book makes good use of the Rashomon effect as four students at Healy High tell us extremely unreliable and biased accounts of the party where Alice Franklin slept with two guys.

I will say, I described the book as “Rashomon with rape, drunk driving, and betrayal” at the halfway point, but like the characters, I too was jumping to conclusions. There’s some dubious consent, especially in a flashback involving statutory, that does not sit right at. all. (I got Dazed and Confused vibes from Tommy. You know, “I keep getting older, but they say the saaaame age.”) but it’s not what I feared. The book is much more about the power of rumors and lies than it is about coercion.

One of the things that stands out to me is how badly all the adults fail not only Alice, but all of the children. Why didn’t Brandon’s mother know he was drinking and driving? Why did Josh’s mom spread baseless rumors about a sixteen year old she barely knew? Why didn’t the teachers clean off the “Slut Stall”? Unlike a lot of YA stories where I’m left wondering, “where are the parents?”, because of poor plotting, here I know precisely where they are: engaging in the same toxic, abusive behavior as their children. We have to learn it somewhere, after all.

With a strong, emotionally devastating opening, the end is a bit saccharine for my tastes. I’m happy the character got to a better place, but it almost felt validating of the original lie. “It’ll all blow over in a week or two.” While it took closer to a year...yeah, it kind of did. Friendships were ruined, and at least two characters will probably carry guilt for a long time, but a really tragic end might have driven the point home harder. (Of course, then I might be complaining that we crossed into after school special territory. I only review for a reason.)

I like the writing a lot. One of the stand out scenes is a flashback between Brandon and Kurt which gave a lot of nuance to a standard jock character, without resorting to “oh poor me, everyone loves me and it’s hard,” cliches. There’s also a good deconstruction of the “dream girl” trope as Kurt gets to know Alice and realizes there’s a difference between “Fantasy Alice” and “Real Alice”, (and finds he prefers the one with a crooked tooth and messy pizza eating.)

The four voices are distinct and felt like real teenagers. I never needed to refer back to whose chapter I was reading, even when I put the book down for a stretch. I like that while everyone got some background on what made them into the kind of people who would lie, slander, and abuse, their behavior is never excused. Elaine could have blamed her bitchy personality on her diet-obsessed mother, but instead her last chapter showed growth and understanding that some things are unforgivable. Josh could have been played off as closeted and jealous, but the subtlety of his feelings kept me thinking and made for a richer reading experience.

In all, The Truth About Alice is a powerful, moving debut that I’m very happy to have read. While I feel the first half is stronger than the last, well written, fleshed-out characters and a fascinating study on mob mentality make this impossible not to recommend.

Book Tour Review: Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 by Francine Prose

Title: Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932
Author: Francine Prose
Genre: historical fiction
Series: N/A
Pages: 448
Published: April 22 2014
Source: TLC Book Tours for review
Rating: 4/5

A richly imagined and stunningly inventive literary masterpiece of love, art, and betrayal, set in Paris from the late 1920s into the dark years of World War II, that explores the genesis of evil, the unforeseen consequences of love, and the ultimate unreliability of storytelling itself

Emerging from the austerity and deprivation of the Great War, Paris in the 1920s shimmers with excitement, dissipation, and freedom. It is a place of intoxicating ambition, passion, art, and discontent, where louche jazz venues like the Chameleon Club draw expats, artists, libertines, and parvenus looking to indulge their true selves. It is at the Chameleon where the striking Lou Villars, an extraordinary athlete and scandalous cross-dressing lesbian, finds refuge among the club's loyal patrons, including rising Hungarian photographer Gabor Tsenyi, socialite and art patron Baroness Lily de Rossignol; and caustic American writer Lionel Maine.

As the years pass, their fortunes-and the world itself-evolve. Lou falls desperately in love and finds success as a racecar driver. Gabor builds his reputation with startlingly vivid and imaginative photographs, including a haunting portrait of Lou and her lover, which will resonate through all their lives. As the exuberant 20s give way to the Depression of the 30s, Lou experiences another metamorphosis-sparked by tumultuous events-that will warp her earnest desire for love and approval into something far more sinister: collaboration with the Nazis.

Using the real life of Violette Morris as an inspiration, Francine Prose's latest novel is the story of an unlikely and awkward French athlete turned Nazi collaborator named Lou Villars. Though she is the center of the novel and referenced in the title, the novel is told through several different voices, none of them belonging to Villars herself. Based in fact and expanded through fiction, this is a highly unusual story; one that provides a new lens on pre-war Paris. 

Through the framing devices (be they letters, memoirs, research papers, etc.) the various narrators of the story each explore various aspects of Paris in the 1930s and different sides of the story's main character and eventual antagonist, Lou. The athlete-turned-racecar-driver-turned-interrogator never expresses herself on the page but remains an unknowable and mysterious character right up to the end --- much like the real-life Violette. You don't really get to know Lou per se (despite detail and description), but Prose does a more than admirable job of evenly exploring her life and providing possible reasons for why Lou's personal evolution followed the path it did.

Paris is always a popular and romantic destination for war stories and love stories, but by choosing pre-World War II Paris, and using a lesbian character, Prose story further stands out. Not only does the gaiety and happiness expressed feel bittersweet, tempered by the knowledge of what is to come for the Gallic people in years to come, but Prose's eponymous Chameleon Club, home of misfits and wayward outcasts, feels doomed from the first appearance. From the moment the picture that gives the book its title is taken (based on Lesbian Couple at Le Monocle), everything begins to spiral out o control.

Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 is an unusual story, told with care. Prose 's subject wasn't the most sympathetic of women, but her story was presented fairly and with obvious research and care.

TTT: Top Ten Book Covers I'd Frame as Art

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

List by Danielle

Book covers! I love covers. Cloth bound, leather bound, hardback, cute little paperbacks. Minimalist, typographic, illustrated MG. I keep my main bookcase organized by color, with stacks of beautiful spines laying on each end table. So with that in mind, this is the perfect TTT for me. Here are some of my favorite covers that I'd like to hang in my future library.

If you'd like to learn more, or add these to your own library, click the pictures to go to the Goodreads pages. (Please note, that these are only judged on prettiness. I've only read four, and I only like two of those, but LOOK AT THE SHINIES.) 

  

And, a one bonus!

Unfortunately, this cover is no longer on Goodreads and I'm not sure what happening with the book's release, which is a crying shame because I was obsessed with the cover when it was revealed. I love the old school sci-fi vibe and the muted tones and the girl's outfit. Even if the book never comes out, could someone send me a full size poster for my reading nook?

So tell us in the comments, folks, what's your favorite book cover?

May's TBR

May! It's May! I have some really cool posts going up in May, guys. They're mostly just reviews but the BOOKS, holy shit are there some excellent books I need to yell my feelings about. 

Heiress. Debutant. Murderer. A new generation of heroines has arrived.

Edinburgh, Scotland, 1844

Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, was destined for a life carefully planned around Edinburgh’s social events – right up until a faery killed her mother.

Now it’s the 1844 winter season and Aileana slaughters faeries in secret, in between the endless round of parties, tea and balls. Armed with modified percussion pistols and explosives, she sheds her aristocratic facade every night to go hunting. She’s determined to track down the faery who murdered her mother, and to destroy any who prey on humans in the city’s many dark alleyways.

But the balance between high society and her private war is a delicate one, and as the fae infiltrate the ballroom and Aileana’s father returns home, she has decisions to make. How much is she willing to lose – and just how far will Aileana go for revenge?

The Falconer by Elizabeth May
I'm putting this as my #1 TBR because as soon as I finished it? I wanted to read it again. My review for it is scheduled to go up tomorrow and this is a book you do not want to miss. Aileana is a great character and the writing is strong, the worldbuilding interesting and solid. Plus the rooooomance!!

All That is Solid Melts into Air by Darragh McKeon,
A blog tour read about Chernobyl! I can't say I've read anything else that takes on that particular incident in history. It seems a little adult lit try hard from what I have seen bit it might surprise me. The review should be up on the 20th!

I am Livia by Phyllis T. Smith
Historical fiction set during the reign of Augustus but about his wife and not him??? A woman who is historically vilified but still remains famous and known?  I hope Smith gives Livia the Stephanie Thornton treatment and characterizes her in a more believable way.


I also get to be part of a book blast for Curses and Smoke -- a YA historical about Pompeii!

Review: The Immortal Crown by Richelle Mead

Title: The Immortal Crown

Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: supernatural, dystopian
Series: Age of X #2
Pages: 432
Published: Expected May 29, 2014
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Rating: 4 out of 5

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Vampire Academy and Bloodline series returns with the second installment in her acclaimed Age of X series.

Gameboard of the Gods introduced religious investigator Justin March and Mae Koskinen, the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him. Together they have been charged with investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both inside the Republic of United North America and out. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: Not only are the gods vying for human control, but the elect—special humans marked by the divine—are turning against one another in bloody fashion.

Their mission takes a new twist when they are assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin’s old friend and rival, going into Arcadia, the RUNA’s dangerous neighboring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work, even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly acquired deity.

Meanwhile, Mae—grudgingly posing as Justin’s concubine—has a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter’s connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission—and with it the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.

Reviewed by Danielle. 
The Immortal Crown is everything I wanted from Gameboard of the Gods, and more. More supernatural powers, tighter mystery, more romantic tension, a reason for the third POV to exist. It’s one of the rare sequels that truly enhances and exceeds its predecessor.

This time around, Justin and his supersoldier bodyguard, Mae, are warned that they’re about to become embroiled in a “war of the elect”. While neither is sure what that means, it’s pretty obviously something not. good. So when Lucian Darling has the brilliant idea of taking them to Arcadia, a fundamentalist theocracy, as part of a goodwill delegation, Justin’s adamantly not interested. Unfortunately, Mae, and their respective deities, have other plans for our heroes.

Arcadia is terrifying. Nehitimar, (interestingly, the only god so far not from traditional mythology,) takes the worst of all the Abrahamic religions’ ideals and wraps them in even more misogyny and violence. Add in a crazy and dangerous Pope Grand Disciple with a highly magnetic religious artifact and you have a powder keg. Reading the physical and sexual abuse women suffer in this land is hard, and you should know you’re signing up for a sub-plot about sex trafficking. Yet, I appreciated that there is some shades of grey in the two countries. Arcadia may be backwards and violent, but RUNA’s hardly innocent, as we’re reminded that the initial secession was due to their forced breeding programs after Mephistopheles.

Meanwhile, Tessa’s plot is separate from Justin and Mae’s, but far more successful than in book one. She’s still obsessed with Gemman media and takes an internship with a reporter to learn more about the subject. This internship leads her to a conspiracy that might implicate important RUNA politicians in secretly engaging in religious worship. While investigating this lead, we finally get to see Tessa as Justin’s protege, and see more of Gemman daily life without the “wide eyed foreigner” thing that bothered me in the first book. Though the plots converge at the end, it makes a lot more sense for her to be doing something completely different and I felt like we actually got to know the character.

There’s a lot more magic this time around, which was mostly good. I’m going to need some parameters in the next book, because, especially at the end, people pull out some full on swords and sorcery shit, in what had previously been sci-fi with magic aspects. It works while the characters don’t understand the magic system either, but pretty soon we’re both going to need to learn its limits. Some of the “just have faith” messages got a little hokey, but for the most part I liked the way the gods interacted with their subjects. And that brings us to the climax. Fairly major plot spoilers below.

Credit to expostninja on Tumblr

If you can’t think of a better way to make your female lead vulnerable than rape, you need to stop and do re-writes. If you can’t think of a better way to drive the romantic leads apart than rape, you need to just stop.

Especially considering Mae was raped prior to book one already, had a very emotional scene, (complete with flashbacks,) dealing with the possibility of being raped again when she first met the Grand Disciple, there is no excusable reason to have her raped a second time to end this book. It’s never a good plot point. I understand the plot called for her to have a crisis of faith that would allow a chaotic entity to step in, and I’m interested in seeing where that goes, but there has to be another way to do it. And frankly, the reveal of who it was felt convenient and muddied both the plot and the magic system.

I really love this book and I’m disappointed that it and my review end on such a sour note. I hope the next book can recapture the excitement and intrigue of the first 400 pages, but I don’t think we’re in the right place going forward.