Speed-Reading Book Nerd Reviews

The Sweet Far Thing

By Libba Bray.

Previous book reviewed here.

Wow, this was a long book (800 pages), and on some level, took me awhile to get into. Maybe because it's been over a year since I read the last one, I dunno. Anyway, spoilers below the cut. Four stars.

Wild Roses

By Deb Caletti.

Passion screws up your life. Cassie should know. A few years ago, her cellist mom fell madly in love with mad genius violinist Dino Caletti, tearing Cassie's family apart. Three years into living with Dino as a stepfather, Cassie's all too aware at how closely madness and genius are intertwined. And she definitely doesn't want to fall for someone the way her mother did.

Then Dino (a) goes off his meds so he can compose again, and (b) takes on a protege, Ian Waters. Who Cassie, much against her will, falls for the second she sees him. It's mutual, much to the dislike of their combined sets of parents, who want Ian to ONLY focus on the violin. Ian himself is pretty sick of only having one focus in life, but as it turns out, there's reasons behind it that Cassie doesn't know about. He's auditioning for a prestigious music school on the other side of the country and will be gone within months, to boot. Definitely bad timing. What's also bad is Dino, whose already-loose grip on sanity is going fast, as he starts having paranoid delusions that his former agent is out to get him, something Cassie and her mom try to keep hidden as much as they can. If they can all just get through Dino's comeback concert and Ian's audition...

Like the Amazon comments, I'd also compare this author to Sarah Dessen. It's the same kind of depth. I picked up this book at random and had to read it. I do wish it was a bit longer, but otherwise, it's a compelling tale of love and the wacky.

Four stars from me.

Long May She Reign

By Ellen Emerson White.

I loved the President's Daughter series back in the 80's (this link has a rundown of the plots, the preceding books will be updated and re-released later this year), and was flabbergasted that it was being brought back with a fourth book. I don't know how this publishing miracle came about, but it gives me hope for other series I love.

I started the book yesterday and was up until four a.m. finishing this one, and it's 700 pages long. (Yup, that's speed-reading for you.) I could not go to sleep until it was over, period.

Before I begin, let me just say that if you haven't read the books that precede this one (this is also a sequel to the Friends novels), you will be able to follow what's gone on before very easily, even though this is a sequel. Yes, I am going to spoil major plot details of the preceding books, since they are currently out of print and you can't read them without some scrounging about at this moment in time. (Well, also you can figure the details out from the Amazon blurbs/back cover of this book.)

Previous plot rundown for you: Meg Powers is the oldest child of the President of the United States...Katharine Vaughn Powers. So far during the Powers administration, the President's been wounded via gunshot and her daughter got kidnapped by terrorists. Meg got mindfucked up the wazoo by her kidnapper, who also destroyed her left knee and then left her handcuffed in a mine shaft to die. In order to escape, Meg had to smash her hand to bits with a rock. (I will never be able to reread Long Live The Queen. I just can't do it. The hand scene finishes me off. But let me assure readers that the book I am currently reviewing is not that brutal.)

And indeed, when we see Meg months later, she's not doing well. Her family isn't either, as her dad is still mad as hell at her mom for not negotiating with terrorists.  She's in agonizing pain and just trying to get through the day taking two classes at George Washington U, and otherwise hides away in her room, not eating. Even Meg can see that this is a pretty bad situation, and decides to suck it up and attend her original college choice, Williams, for the spring semester. And she already thought it was going to be bad going as the President's daughter...now she's the permanently handicapped President's daughter with a "death watch" of media following her around. Naturally, she's not in the best of moods to meet new people.

This is Meg's journey back, hitting potholes, standing up for herself, wrangling the press, dating, making friendships, dealing with constant medical shit, and trying to cope with her fear. She also has an interesting relationship with her dorm adviser, Susan (more about her here), who's also got an ugly past that reporters are interested in.

The handling of Jack, the fellow Meg dates, is very interesting. He really walks a fine line between "womanizing charmer that everyone warns you about" and "decent guy underneath" and "18-year-old guy who has NO idea how to handle a girl with a complicated life situation and can't figure out if he wants to bail or not." It's a surprise to me that Meg dates him (and sticks with him), but I enjoyed watching his development as a person.

I love how Meg still manages to be quite snarky, and how much of a born political wonk she is (there's a scene with her poli sci prof that's amusing, and also mentions where she took her second steps as a baby!), and how she relates to her fellow students... eventually. Even injured, she kicks ass.

Five stars. I can't recommend this enough. Even if you don't like "teenage" novels. Even if you have to read the previous books first. Even if you don't want to read about someone who was brutalized. It's worth it.

Ella Enchanted

By Gail Carson Levine.

No, I hadn't read this before, but it's pretty neat. It's a retelling of Cinderella, but in this case, Ella gets a curse that's supposed to be a blessing. There's a nutty fairy named Lucinda who likes to pop up around the kingdom and bestow gifts that will totally screw your life over. In this case, Ella got cursed to be obedient- to the point where if someone asked her to kill herself or someone else, she'd do it. Ella's a born rebel (otherwise) and tries to NOT give in, but it's difficult.

Adding to the dilemma going on beyond her own family life going to hell (oh, those stepsisters- one of whom figures out the curse...), the lovely prince of the kingdom falls for her... but it'd be deadly for her to marry into the royal family. Unless she figures out how to de-curse herself...

A tad weak in places, but not bad. I liked the prince, and Ella's language ability and how it worked into the plot. Four stars from me.

Cross My Heart And Hope To Spy

By Ally Carter.

I am not quite sure what to make of this one (previous book here). On the one hand, I got a little confused on plot details (I am not a born spy, after all), but on the other hand, this one has great setup and issues.

Cammie comes back to school after winter break a sadder but wiser girl. She's broken up with her boyfriend, who's had his memory of what Gallagher is all about erased, and "the deputy director of the CIA made me promise to stop." However, her boy-chasing in the last book has led to an...interesting development... for the school itself. Namely,  fifteen Blackthorne boys brought in from their own spy school for the semester.

One of the boys, Zach, has a thing for Cammie right off, but considering that he beat her at counter-surveillance, she's really, really annoyed about it. Plus there's those unresolved feelings for Josh that can't go anywhere. Plus there's Cammie's suspicions that things with the Blackthorne boys are not quite what they seem...really, their living quarters are just way too clean, for example!

It's very "Spy Vs. Spy" in this one. Cammie's not used to being out-spied on, or to have the techniques she's used to using being used on her. She also can't figure out whether or not to trust Zach...or if she even like-likes him, exactly. (This was a bit confusing.) I did get a bit annoyed/suspicious at how many times C&Z are constantly thrown together...I don't think I ever did decide if it was coupling plot contrivance or if there were ulterior motives behind it. In this book, could very well be the latter! And if it is..oooh, I wonder.

On the other hand, I am very curious to see how junior year's going to play out. Will the boys be back? Will Cammie figure out what's going on with their school (or even where it is)? Is something up with the disappearance of her dad?

I'll be waiting.

Four stars.

Best Foot Forward

By Joan Bauer.

This is the sequel to Rules of the Road, and it's just as good as the first one. Unfortunately, I can't discuss it without spoiling the previous book.

But it's just as good as the first. Five stars from me. I know it's unlikely, but I'd be happy with a third book, one in which Jenna goes into shoe management or something :)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

By J.K. Rowling.

Is there even a point to my writing a review of this book at this time*, since I totally missed out on writing a timely review of it the day after publication**, and by now a good chunk of the population*** has already read it?

Not really, but I want it off my list of TBR's*, so here we go.

Note before I begin: it's been three weeks, people, I am not going to do spoiler cutting for this entire book by now. I'll cut the big stuff, but not the entire review. BE WARNED DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT IF YOUR EYES ARE STILL VIRGIN WHEN IT COMES TO THIS BOOK.

So, Harry doesn't go back to Hogwarts this year- he can't, since he's now England's Most Wanted after Voldemort's return. After saying goodbye to the Dursleys one last time (and having a touching farewell moment with Dudley about how he isn't a waste of space), his pals cook up a Polyjuice Potion-involving scheme to get him out of the house and to safety a few days before his birthday. But Voldemort's aware of this, and within the first few chapters, we've already got a body count. You know when she kills the pet owl that she's serious this time, folks.

After hanging around to celebrate Harry's birthday, inherit a few items from Dumbledore and attend Bill and Fleur's wedding, Harry, Ron, and Hermione go on a year-long camping trip to go hunt down horcruxes. It takes about 180-ish pages to finally get to the thing everyone figured out after book six- yes, R.A.B. is Sirius's brother, yes, that locket was a horcrux. More surprising than that is finding out what happened with regards to the horcrux from Kreacher, and the vast improvement that he makes in this book. Much as I loathe house-elves and loathed the whole S.P.E.W. plotline...uh....there was an actual point to it. Go figure!

But after getting ahold of the locket (which involves invading the Voldemort-run Ministry of Magic and stealing it directly off Umbridge) and nearly getting nailed, the kids have to resort to hiding in the woods, having no idea what they're doing and squabbling with each other. (That locket doesn't really help one's personality unless you're Umbridge.) There's some false leads, and a touching visit to Godric's Hollow, scene of the crimes against Harry. As many, many people have pointed out, there is an Awful Lot of Coincidences going on in order to facilitate the rest of the book's plot and the finding of the other horcruxes.

Adding to the fun of object-finding, there's the Deathly Hallows, something that pops up here and there and is finally outed by Luna's father: they're three objects that supposedly make you the "master of death." (That doesn't really mean jack squat.) Much to Harry's surprise, it turns out that he's got one of them. The second one (resurrection stone) sounds like it just brings back ghosts, but the third...a supposedly unbeatable wand...well,  guess who's just gotten ahold of it?

There's a LOT of wandplay and wand-swapping in this one. Pay close attention, much like if you were watching a shell game on the street.

Eventually, everything boils down to (a) a ginormously awesome battle at Hogwarts (Neville kicks SO much ass), and (b) Harry finding out The Real Truth About Everything with regards to Snape and his own connection to Voldemort....

And at this point, I'll have to break for spoiler cut identification.

I'll give the book four stars. I was pretty well overwhelmed by reading it. Yes, there's plenty of flaws here and there, mostly to do with Too Many Coincidences and certain things that go on at the end. But it's also surprisingly funny, to the point of me making a list of the funny lines awhile back. In the end, there's a fair bit of closure (though not enough, given the lists of "what happened afters" that JKR keeps coming out with) and wrapup, and all is well.

* Good god, I WILL NEVER SO HELP ME GOD GO ON VACATION FOR TWO WEEKS AT A TIME AGAIN because it has now taken me a solid month to catch up on everything I missed and this is my LAST REVIEW that I have to write before I've got a clean slate again.

** Having to work the day after publication didn't help this worth a damn.

*** Surprisingly, an enormous amount of people have still not read the book OR EVEN TURNED TO THE FIRST PAGE YET. I don't mean that they are reading it still, I mean, they haven't started it and are still yelling about "Don't spoil me!" I can't believe you people. I've already handed off my book to one of these people so hopefully I'll actually be able to mention spoilers in public without being shot one of these weeks.

Rules of the Road

By Joan Bauer.

I found this book in one of the condos I was staying in, and it is just so awesome and sweet, I was kvelling. Much like Jane Austen in Scarsdale, which made me want to become a guidance counselor, Rules of the Road made me want to work in retail. (And working in retail would make me nuts, so this is saying something.)

Jenna Boller is a 16-year-old employee at Gladstone's Shoe Store in Chicago. She is REALLY good at what she does. So when the president of the company wants to hire Jenna to drive her to various stores down the coast for six weeks on her way to her last stockholder's meeting before retiring to Texas, Jenna does not necessarily want to go. But her alcoholic father has come back into town and is harassing her, so her mom lets her go.

As Jenna makes friends with Mrs. Gladstone and operates as both chauffeur and "shoe spy" (she investigates store management), she finds out that Mrs. Gladstone's son is forcing her out of the business. He has zero belief in selling quality shoes, or having quality employees, and wants to sell out to Shoe Warehouse ASAP. Mrs. G is miserable about this, but she won't go down without a fight, if Jenna and her other friends in the business have anything to say about it...

This is a great, heartwarming, kickass book. To me, it's right up there with This Lullaby for sheer greatness.

Five stars.

Starcrossed

By Mark Schreiber.

This plot REALLY reminds me of reading The Wind Blows Backward- the plot is extremely similar, but the characters have more of a sense of wacky and fun going on.

Our hero and heroine, Ben and Christy, first meet in a plastic surgeon's office where they are trying to get tattooes removed. Coincidentally, Ben has the name "Christy" tattooed on him, and Christy has "Benjamin" tattooed on her.
After some wacky coincidental re-meetings, they start going out- but Christy, an astrological buff, insists he get his chart done by her astrologer first. She's a Capricorn, he's a Pisces- perfect match! She's wacky and free-spirited, he's fairly serious and wants to go into astronomy. He also omits stuff and she outright lies a lot of the time, but it somehow works. Most of the time...

(Uh, speaking as an astrological buff...this book could have been better in this regard. Or at least more specific and less vague. Especially since Ben acts more like a Capricorn and Christy acts more like Ben's sign. I just thought I'd mention that, since it's such a big deal.)

Benjamin (not Ben, note the distinction!) is Christy's ex, who went to juvie prison for murder. She's through with him, but he's not through with her, which she finds out when he hits his 18th birthday and gets out and comes looking for her. Christy is in denial about this, and it becomes more of a focus in the book than Ben's issues regarding his parents and his father's suicide.

And yet, despite the odd mixes of things in this book, it works. Christy is an entertaining (if not exactly truthful and kinda immature) narrator and I liked her voice, and I thought the last line of the book was fabulous. I'm giving it four stars.

Dancing In Red Shoes Will Kill Yout

By Dorian Cirrone.

This book needs to be longer.

Sometimes you say that because you're so happy with reading the story that you don't want it to end. In this case, I want the overall story to be more fleshed out. It's too short. I want more.

Kayla Callaway and her sister Paterson attend an arts high school. Paterson is an artist, Kayla is a ballerina...with double-D hooters as of over the summer. When she loses out on the lead role in the school ballet ONLY because of her boobs, she's told by her dance teacher that if she doesn't get them removed, she can't have a career in ballet.

Ouch. To be told that at 16? Kayla's well aware that that is totally true, and she's not fond of having to wear 3 sports bras every day...but on the other hand, breast reduction at 16 years old? Not to mention that this news gets around school and there are (briefly mentioned, sadly) campaigns to "Save the Hooters" (boys) or "Reduce the Rack" girls. Yeah, that's all you need. Paterson is pretty well infuriated by this kind of talk, and creates an art project centered around fairy tales and female body part removal to impress others, which doesn't go over well with the administration.

In addition to the State of the Boobs, there's a new hot guy in school that's interested in Kayla, a rival in ballet that's spreading rumors about her, and...death threats involving toe shoes. Someone hangs up a pair of red pointe shoes with a note saying "Dancing In Red Shoes Will Kill You", which causes cops to be sent to the school. Who's wearing red shoes in the ballet? Are those people targets? Naturally, Kayla's suspected as a perpetrator of leaving the shoes around.

Here's the thing about this book: the characters are fun and lively, and have personality up the wazoo. (Though I do think due to the shortness of this novel, the love story with Gray is too briefly covered in some respects.) The issues brought up with regards to boobs and body parts are relevant and interesting, though you can probably guess how that gets resolved. The mystery involving the shoes, however....is weak. I'll discuss that below the spoiler cut, but the resolution of it is not only not a mystery, but seems a bit too blockheaded for those involved to have done. If you're interested in this book because it looks like a mystery, it isn't.

See, this is why I wish this book was longer: it's like there's barely enough time to whet your whistle for the plot elements of it, and then it's over.  The plot elements are very cool, I just want more, and to either have the mystery scrapped or turned into an actual mystery with some threat involved.

So...three and a half stars.