Review: VIRGIN by Radhika Sanghani

Title: VIRGIN by Radhika Sanghani

Pub Date: August 5, 2014

ARC received from Penguin Group Berkley in exchange for an honest review.

Dannie says: I liked it better when it was called Forty Year Old Virgin or Losing It or...The Vagina Monologues or...you get the picture.

Okay, I admit it…I didn’t do it.

Yet.

This is normal, right?  I mean, just because everyone I know has talked like they’ve already done it doesn’t mean that they’re telling the truth…right?

It’s not like I’m asking for that much. I don’t need the perfect guy. I don’t need candlelight or roses. Honestly, I don’t even need a real bed.

The guys I know complain that girls are always looking for Mr. Right—do I have to wear a sign that says I’m only looking for Mr. Right Now?

Sooooo…anyone out there want sex? Anyone? Hello? Just for fun?

I am not going to die a virgin. One way or another I am going to make this happen.

Hey, what have I got to lose? Besides the obvious.

WHAT I LIKED

The humor--begrudgingly. Even though much of it is that crass style of humor that I'm not super crazy about, there were some good one liners, particularly once the blog excerpts start. The humor prior to that is in the vein of DOING IT by Melvin Burgess which, man did I hate that book. But, as this is intended for an older audience and is thus more appropriate humor for, you know, grownups, it makes a lot more sense. I'm just not sure it's very original. I mean the waxing scene was funnier in 40-Year-Old Virgin. The awkward teeth blow job was funnier in...hmm...I think that may have been 40 YOV, too? Something About Mary? American Pie? IDK. Some movie that came out A LONG TIME AGO. Perhaps it's because being a forty-year-old virgin is a lot more far-fetched, awkward, and oh, I don't know, humorous than being a twenty-one-year-old virgin?

The ending. I won't say more because spoilers, but I feel like this was the right ending of this particular character's journey. Which is to say, she doesn't deserve a better one. 

WHAT I LOVED

The random references to a middle grade series. I got most excited when there were references I recognized from Harry Potter, which is sort of embarrassing to admit because, yeah, this is definitely NOT a children's book. Oh and then the author references HP herself and I felt at least less alone in my awkward-perviness.

The "new" bestie on the block. Emma was probably my favorite character (even though her name is too close to Ellie and I was thus forever getting the names mixed up as I read.) Not only is she complicated and sincere, she's consistent and her personality makes sense. She also seemed to be the only of the three primary female characters with a brain a lot of the time. 

WHAT I WANTED MORE OF

A more original primary theme. This is not my type of book, and honestly I can name at least three titles that did the "virginity loss quest" story that conveys the awkwardness and agony that is new sexuality in a less campy, more well-written, conflict-filled way. The writing was not great, but more than that, the plot itself wasn't really original. And some of it straight up didn't make sense.

Some depth and complication to the L.I. ***warning minor spoiler here*** Honestly and truly I kept hoping Chris the Emo would make a reappearance. He was the only male character who seemed like an actual person in the entire book. Instead we get this assclown. Really, this is a book that if I were reading for pleasure I would put down for one very simple reason: I honestly didn't care if any of the characters met their story goals. More than that, I sort of hoped they didn't.

More scene and less introspection. Since I wasn't really crazy about the MC I wasn't crazy to spend as much time in her head as we did. There was far too much introspection [read: whining] in the first half of the book for me. As a reader, I would have stopped reading before I got to the more balanced second-half that has both stronger dialogue and more entertaining narrative.

More organic/authentic dialogue. Wow. For real. There were times throughout this book that the dialogue felt so much like dialogue that it was painful. I questioned if the writer spent much time around actual human beings, or if she had critique partners at the very least. The conversations did not feel real to me at all.

A more likable main character. While I definitely found Ellie sympathetic (emphasis on the pathetic), she was too shallow to champion for me. I really dislike weak MCs who need the other characters to provide their insights. And I fully agreed with her childhood bestie that the MC's behavior toward guys over the year were increasingly desperate.  And beyond all that I found the character to be internally inconsistent. So she's done all this internet research and is absolutely crass and yet she doesn't have the skills to call a male escort service if she's really that desperate to get rid of her oh-so-terrible virginity? This isn't even getting into the fact that I felt like her whole quest and story goal made her unlikable to begin with. I was hoping for more of an arc to her personality as well as the overall character. I didn't get it. 

Less [definitely not more] virgin shaming.  I tend to keep my mouth shut on the whole anti-slut-shaming movement in general, because, well, I just do. But for me, it's not okay to say "slut shaming is bad" but to be totally okay with virgin-shaming, which is what a lot of the narrative in the first few chapters felt like for me. I don't think it's okay for New Adult novels to have a "fuck anything that moves because being a 21 year old virgin is pathetic" theme. For an older audience, I'm still not crazy about it, but I get the theme and humor and where the author was coming from. It's just not for me personally. But for me, and not even being someone who was necessarily a late bloomer myself, I was a little irritated by the lack of any female character with the perspective waiting is good.

Short story long, this one didn't do a lot for me. Well, no. It irritated me a lot. Not only was I not crazy about the major story elements as a reader, but the writing is just simply not good. Chances are many of you will think I'm wrong, though. If you're a fan of painful virginity stories, Bridget Jones' Diary, The Vagina Monologues, Losing It, and Forty-Year-Old Virgin and you don't mind those ideas being borrowed upon heavily, this could be a fun read.

Review: WHITE HOT KISS by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: WHITE HOT KISS

Cat/Gen: YA/Paranormal

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Pub Date: Out now!

ARC received from Harlequin Teen via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Dannie says: Oh. So this is why people love JLA. I understand now.

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses. 

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever. 

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul. 

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne…it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.

WHAT I LIKED

The lore. Being the first in a series, she didn't delve into the traditional gargoyle lore as much as I would have liked, thus making it a like and not a love. But I did dig the world-building that happened. I haven't read many gargoyle YA's and that definitely caught my eye here. Hoping for more in Book 2.

It's a quick, fun read. I may have almost been late to work the morning after as a consequence of reading this from start to finish one night. 

The FMC. I liked Layla, but I didn't love her. She wasn't as strong as I like my main characters to be and she relied too much on the men...erm...demons and gargoyles in her life to save her. As the book went on, though, and she made more complex/flawed choices, I grew to like her more. 

WHAT I LOVED

How pleasantly I surprised I was overall. This is the first Jennifer L. Armantrout novel I've picked up, mostly because I've heard a lot of meh things but also because I hadn't really been grabbed by any of the plotlines. But I decided to give this one a chance when it came across my netgalley feed and I was pleasantly surprise.

The sexytimes. Oh. So this is why people love JLA. I understand now.

Roth. I won't go into a lot of details here because spoilers, but I'll just say I like to write bad boys a lot more than I like to read them. And, as a general principle, not so much a fan of demons. This is a bad boy demon I enjoyed reading and hope to read more of very soon. 

WHAT I WANTED MORE OF

More depth and screen time with Zayne. I think to do a love-triangle well, you need to really buy into the idea that both L.I.'s have an equally realistic possibility of success as a partner and that both have the potential to offer her something she can't get from the other. I didn't quite buy into Zayne's potential, what with the whole not being able to kiss him thing. It'd kind of a bummer to not be able to kiss a guy you're dating. 

More screen time with the bad guys. I felt like they were sort of in-and-out and not scary enough as a consequence. 

More interaction with the human world. For a girl that's in high school there's suspiciously few humans in her life. And yeah I get the whole soul-sucking urge complication and whatnot, but as a reader who is, well, human...mostly...it felt weird that there were so few humans in the book. On a related note, I wanted more clarity about how the humans came into play in this world because they didn't really seem to add any sort of value to the story. The human players are very unimportant to the overall plot, and I never really invested in them. Moreover, I wasn't 100% sure why gargoyles mattered to humans. 

A more complex FMC. Though again I wish she made more of an impact on the story. Anything more would be spoilerish so I'll leave it there.

Also, more gargoyles. Because, um...gargoyles? 

Short story long, if you're curious about JLA but you haven't read her yet, this isn't a bad place to start. It's not a book that's going to change the face of YA/ParRom, but that's okay. It's a fun, quick read, perfect for summer break.

This one's been out for a while now, so if you've read it, let me know what you think! Buy links are below!

Fangirl Friday Review: SECOND STAR by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Title: SECOND STAR by Alyssa B. Sheinmel
Pub Date: May 13, 2014
ARC received from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.
Dannie says: I'm already wishing for a sequel!

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 his 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 J. M. Barrie's classic tale, Second Star is an irresistible summer romance about two young men who have yet to grow up—and the troubled beauty trapped between them.

WHAT I LIKED

The overall story arc and plot. It's a like not a love because, for me, while the first half of the book had fantastic, gripping pace, the latter half, maybe last third, felt rushed. Part of that is that I was reading at top speed, dying to know what was going to happen next. But in terms of plot points it felt a little bottom heavy for me. That said, the plot is fantastic and I read the book from start to finish in one sitting, forgoing sleep because I was so invested in the story. 

The characters and relationships. Related to the point above, I felt like we got great insights and time with Pete, but not so much with Jas. I felt like he needed to be more villainous, or at least we needed to see his villainous side played out on the page a little more clearly. I think maybe the author fell for Jas as she was creating him and sort of softballed him as a result. And surely part of that was to emphasize the love triangle aspect, but for me it made him feel less three-dimensional than Pete. I wanted the author to take his relationship with Wendy further, to spend more time building their bond. Without revealing too much, I left the love triangle aspect of the story not knowing who I was rooting for, and I'm a pretty effing opinionated person when it comes to love triangles. It's the reason I avoid writing them in my own stories. I didn't know who I thought was a better fit for Wendy, not because I loved them both equally but because I didn't get to love either of them enough. 

WHAT I LOVED

First thing's first--yay contemporary retellings! I loved the way the author incorporated and stayed true to the original Barrie fairytale while setting the book firmly in the modern real world. I think she did an excellent job in that respect. Her concept grabbed me immediately and I felt like she did an amazing job of following through on what her book blurb promised. 

The setting. I'm not a beach book gal by any stretch of the imagination. But I felt really pulled into the setting and the world that she created, despite my original misgivings that pink, beachy books are not for me. She contrasted that enough with real world grit that I got invested quickly and stayed *hooked* throughout. ;)

The MC. I like that Wendy is that catalyst for the story. Yes, there are strong male figures in the story and yes they definitely impact the plot, but this is Wendy's story and she's a strong female MC without being overtly feminist or unfeminine. I really enjoyed reading her story and I was rooting for her from start to finish. 

WHAT I WANTED MORE OF

More resolution in the ending--in looking on Goodreads, it doesn't appear this is a series. Boo. That said, the ending doesn't feel neat enough for me for a standalone. I wanted something more concrete. So ironic, because I'm the queen of unresolved open and grey endings. But there it is. 

A nitpicky note, but I wanted Jas to be more Hook-like. I was hoping he would have some sort of disability the way Hook does (it would be easy, given the hazards of surfing), or at least something symbolic of the hook. If there was such a thing I missed it, but I definitely found myself looking for it when Jas was introduced and throughout the read. 

These are picky, purely opinion things, though. And they won't stop me from re-reading this one. 

Short story long, I can't say enough about this story. The only negative I have was that it wasn't long enough--that I wanted to keep reading even after I ran out of pages. I really hope there is a sequel planned they haven't revealed yet. Maybe I'll have to wish upon a star to make it happen, eh?

Buy links below. If you like retellings or beach reads or good YA in general, pick this one up. 

Review: SONG OF THE FIREFLIES by J.A. Redmerski

Title: SONG OF THE FIREFLIES by J.A. Redmerski 
Pub Date: Out now!
ARC received from Forever (Grand Central Publishing) in exchange for an honest review. 
Dannie says: *big pouty face here!* I wanted to love this so hard.

THE TRUTH WILL SET THEM FREE
Brayelle Bates has always been a force of nature. Even as a child, Bray's wild and carefree spirit intimidated everyone around her. The only person who's ever truly understood her is her best friend, Elias Kline. Though every fiber of her being wants to stay with Elias forever, Bray can't bear the thought of him discovering her agonizing history. She's done everything she can to keep him at arm's length, including moving away. But their undying bond was too strong a pull to deny, and Bray couldn't survive without him. Now she's back home with Elias, and things have never felt more right--until one night changes everything. 

Elias vowed never to be separated from Bray again. So when she decides to flee in a desperate attempt to escape her fate, Elias knows he must go with her. As the two try to make the most of their circumstance, taking up with a reckless group of new friends, Elias soon realizes there's a darkness driving Bray he can't ignore. Now in order to save her, he'll have to convince Bray to accept the consequences of their reality--even if it means losing her. 

WHAT I LIKED

The MCs. I liked them, but didn't love them. There were a few reasons for this that I'll get to below, but while I cared about what happened to both of them, I wasn't necessarily championing them or their relationship. 

That mental health was a theme but not THE story. I think it's a mistake in trend in both YA and NA to make stories that are just about [insert sick lit theme here]. So it was nice to see a story with a mentally ill MC where the illness itself was not the spotlight of the book. The handling of bipolar disorder itself made it a like, instead of a love. More on that below. 

WHAT I LOVED 

I really struggled to find a love in this book. And for a strengths-based critiquer, that's a hard thing for me to write. I was disappointed in a lot of this book, which really sucks because THE EDGE OF NEVER was one of my favorite NA reads for a long time. 

WHAT I WANTED MORE OF

Authentic handling of sexual addiction. It's easy for me to nitpick about the handling of addiction issues, having been an addictions therapist for nearly 15 years now. However, this isn't really about that. Krista and Becca Ritchie absolutely nailed both drug and sex addiction in their ADDICTED SERIES novels, and they're not therapists. This is a matter of the author doing enough research to make the story authentic. And for anyone who has ever met a girl who is truly addicted to sex, it's beyond insulting to their struggles and strengths to say "I like sex a lot" and call it an addiction. This really raised my hackles because it doesn't take a TON of research to do better than the author did in this case. 

Authentic presentation of bipolar disorder. The author hugely missed the boat here, too. And she missed an awesome opportunity to utilize the dual narrative POVs to present bipolar as it appears externally to a loved one as well as internally within a person with the disorder. In the case of Bipolar, these are two very different perspectives, particularly when the person is in a manic phase. So here again, I felt like the author didn't do her research and slapped a label on her character to give her an "issue" rather than do the work to make the disease feel authentic. I felt that she did attempt to rectify this in some of the very last chapters, but it was too late at that point. The opportunity had been messed up way before then, and the author had lost her credibility with me as a reader. The same went for the plot aspects of involuntary commitment and correctional suicide watch. 

Distinct narrative voice. (And yes, Dannie is harping on voice again.) Really, though, if you're going to bother to have two points of view, a reader should be able to tell the difference between them. There were many times when I had to skim back to figure out whose POV we were in. And when one of the characters is pervasively mentally ill and a self-diagnosed sex addicts, this really shouldn't be the case. I felt like the voice was spotty and muddy throughout the read. 

Not more but less chunky expository narrative. I felt like this book was heavy on the internal monologue but that that narrative was neither emotive or provocative. It makes sense when you have a depressed MC that she's going to be withdrawn and isolating. That's all the more reason to make that narrative jump off the page where both voice and content are concerned. There was a huge disconnect for me in this respect. 

More editing. And here I'm not talking about line editing, which you expect with an ARC to be spotty. I'm talking about big picture editing--characterization, plot, narrative voice, pace, etc.  Like THE EDGE OF ALWAYS, this feels more like a first draft than any sort of finished product. The potential is there but the execution is way off.

I'm willing to accept that I may be totally wrong here. But like I said, I loved the author's debut novel when I first started reading NA a couple years ago. This felt so off the mark for me compared to that, and made me feel like I wasn't just being biased here in my disappointment. 

But that's my two cents, for whatever they're worth. Let me know what you think!

Review: ME SINCE YOU by Laura Wiess

Title: ME SINCE YOU by Laura Wiess
Pub Date: Available now!
ARC received from MTV Books in exchange for an honest review
Dannie says: LOTS to love here!

Are there any answers when someone you love makes a tragic choice?

Before and After. That's how Rowan Areno sees her life now. Before: she was a normal sixteen-year-old--a little too sheltered by her police officer father and her mother. After: everything she once believed has been destroyed in the wake of a shattering tragedy, and every day is there to be survived.

If she had known, on that Friday in March when she cut school, that a random stranger's shocking crime would have traumatic consequences, she never would have left campus. If the crime video never went viral, maybe she could have saved her mother, grandmother--and herself--from the endless replay of heartache and grief.

Finding a soul mate in Eli, a witness to the crime who is haunted by losses of his own, Rowan begins to see there is no simple, straightforward path to healing wounded hearts. Can she learn to trust, hope, and believe in happiness again?

WHAT I LIKED

The MC. She came off as bratty at first and I kind of didn't care what happened to her as a result, making her a like instead of a love. This changed as the book progressed, however, but at first I really was more invested in her father than the MC herself, which for a typical YA reader might be a huge problem (since they tend not to attach to the adults in stories as much as other teens.) That said, her brattyness lended itself to nice room for character growth.

Really engaging read once you get past the initial pace issues. (More on this below) but the story architecture was a little off balance, making the middle of the book feel very, very slow. Once the story picked up, though, it was unputdownable. 

WHAT I LOVED

The grittiness. This is my sort of read. There are very realistic emotions throughout and nice authenticity. As a result, however, the beginning is very intense, maybe too realistic for some readers, and probably not suitable for kids under fifteen or sixteen (info for my parent readers). This is a tough read, and it may be triggering for some readers who have depression or care about someone with serious depression or suicidal ideation. It would be a great book for a parent and teen to read and discuss together. 

I love that this is a YA story that focuses on family. So much of YA/C falls into the full blown romance category. And while there is a huge romantic component to this story (more on that below) the story holds water without the romance. I think this is a story that needed a voice in YA. 

Love the romance. It's exactly the right balance of sensitivity to the main story arc while not overstepping its boundary as a subplot. It's also a nice example of writing authentic and realistic teen romance where the characters fulfill a need for each other that's actually meaningful (a big pet peeve of mine in pink teen lit.)

WHAT I WANTED MORE OF

Story architecture feels a little wonky. The main character's journey doesn't really get rolling until the unexpected (sorta) twist with Dad, which feels too late in the plot arc for me. First third of book happens around MC more than to her in a way that made the pace there feel on the slow side. As I read, I found myself wondering whether teen readers would be engaged by the first third of the book. 

As a school counselor, I wanted more realistic/respectful portrayal of how school personnel respond to situations like this. The scene with bus driver, for example, is completely unrealistic. Bus drivers don't antagonize students or go looking for a fight because there are dash cameras right there to catch the whole thing. Also because if a school bus driver is looking for a fight there's usually one to be had with an intentionally antagonistic kid who is also looking for a fight. This might be remotely plausible in a middle school setting, but high school bus drivers tend to leave their students along and as a consequence the students do the same and everyone's happy as a result. So this scene totally pulled me out of the story. 

It's highly unlikely the press would show the video on the local news. Too glamorizing of suicide and they would have a serious lawsuit on their hands if a copycat trend started. Would it be available online? Sure. But not on regular TV news or even really on cable TV news. So here again I was pulled out of the story because this sort of thing just doesn't happen in real life.

 

I felt like there was too much normalizing of risk behaviors for YA in my opinion. The drinking and drug content is presented with the casual nonchalance you might expect in a new adult book. Regardless of the authenticity, when we write for teens I feel like we have an ethical obligation to do our best not to glamorize risk behaviors--unprotected sex, casual drug use, etc. Why? Because kids interpret this as condoning the behavior. And as a therapist who's seen too many kids die or ruin other people's lives with their drug use, that's not okay with me, as a writer or a reader, not to mention as a parent. This book was not nearly as normalizing as many others I've read, but it did stick out for me so I wanted to note it for my parent readers. 

All that said, I did really, REALLY enjoy this read. It has some kinks that might benefit from further finessing, but on the whole it was definitely a book I was glad I happened across on NetGalley. Read it and let me know what you think!

Review: LOSING HOPE BY COLLEEN HOOVER

In the follow-up to Colleen Hoover’s #1 New York Times bestseller Hopeless, the charming and irresistible Dean Holder tells the passionate story that has melted thousands of hearts.

In HOPELESS Sky left no secret unearthed, no feeling unshared, and no memory forgotten, but Holder’s past remained a mystery.

Still haunted by the little girl he let walk away, Holder has spent his entire life searching for her in an attempt to finally rid himself of the crushing guilt he has felt for years. But he could not have anticipated that the moment they reconnect, even greater remorse would overwhelm him…

Sometimes in life, if we wish to move forward, we must first dig deep into our past and make amends. In Losing Hope, bestselling author Colleen Hoover reveals what was going on inside Holder’s head during all those hopeless moments—and whether he can gain the peace he desperately needs.

WHAT I LIKED

That even though this is a companion novel, it holds water as its own story. Where most companion novels rehash the same story from a different POV, Holder's perspective was different enough and the details were new enough that it worked. Really well. I still feel like companion novels are sort of cheating though, so it's a like not a love because I'm biased like that.  

The chemistry, though it was better in female POV. Part if this goes back to voice issue (more on that below.) But it still sizzled and Holder is yummy, even when he's the POV character.  

WHAT I LOVED

Really good handling of family member teen suicide. I think this is a hugely underrepresented theme in both YA and NA (glad to have reviewed two books in the last month that address this topic) because this is the sort of thing that people don't talk about. Your mom has cancer and dies, everyone can relate to that sort of grief. But having a family member who chooses to end her own life is different. It's incredibly difficult to process, even as an outsider, and finding the strength to support someone who is going through that is even harder. So In really, really love the author's handling of this issue. She uses the perfect combination of painful bluntness to make it authentic with sensitivity toward her readers' emotional reactions to this issue. Really well done.

The overall plot--I loved it the first time, loved it enough to read the same story again from another point of view. 

WHAT I WANTED MORE OF

Believably male narrative voice. I still say the "hopeless" tattoo is a little unrealistic and female-minded though. Beyond that, though, there is definitely some feminine word choice stuff happening, particularly during heightened emotional tension. I wanted Holder to be more masculine (note, I don't mean more manly or macho, but the fact is that guys and girls think differently.) I think if you make the decision to take on a male POV, you've got to see it through. There were a few times while reading that I said "yeah a guy wouldn't say it this way" or "guys aren't wired like that" and it pulled me out of the story. These were exceptions, however, and not the rule. Overall I really enjoyed the voice. 

Would have liked more flushing out of subplot arcs. There were some great NA themes that took a serious backseat to the romance plot and to the plot we saw in HOPELESS. I would have liked to have seen more time spent on Holder's goals and future, beyond than the brief epilogue we get at the very end. 

That said, there's a reason why Colleen Hoover is seen as one of the foremothers of NA fiction. She weaves authentic, original NA yarn, and I'm pretty sold on any title I find on the shelves so long as her name is on it. I'm late to the party on this one, so I'm sure many of you have read it. What did you think?

Review: THIS IS NOW by Maggie Gilbert

THIS IS NOW by Maggie Gilbert  
Pub Date: February 1, 2014
ARC received from Harlequin Enterprises Australia in exchange for an honest review.
Dannie says: Sexy, nice guy, classical musician? Why thank you, I think I will. 

A gritty, urban New Adult Cinderella story where the princess can do her own rescuing — she just needs someone to believe in her.

Sister to car thieves, ex-girlfriend to a drug dealer, high school dropout, no-hoper and loser — Jess is on the sidelines, watching her life become one epic fail. Her dreams of university are fading fast, as the people in her life fight to confine her to their own expectations. 

Then she meets Sebastien, a gifted cellist from a very different walk of life. Sebastien is clean and strong and talented. He likes and respects her, but he too has expectations. Sebastien seems to think she can do anything, and Jess, despite her fears and the secrets she hides, is starting to believe him.

But just as Jess dares to hope, the secrets in her past and the lies in her present catch up with her. All seems lost and she has to make a choice. Between past and future. Between home and hope. Between now and never. And this is now.

WHAT I LIKED

That the New Adult themes were highlighted, even though it isn't a traditional college story. As a NA author biased toward books that don't fit the college cookie cutter, I was super excited about this element. Though I wish the themes had been more consistently present. For me, it felt like they were more of an afterthought added in during editing to fit the category, which made them a like rather than a love. But yay for out of the box books! :)

Overall characterization was a like for me (with one exception, see below.) I think we spent so much time in the MC's head that we sort of lost the other characters at times. An increase in dialogue would have helped this tremendously for me. A good example is Anna, who plays such a crucial role but hardly gets any on screen time. I think the author missed a huge opportunity to play her up more. But I did feel that the characters were overall relatively consistent and well thought out. 

WHAT I LOVED

Sebastien. *girlie sigh* He makes a lovely book boyfriend. I loved that he wasn't a tattooed raging beast like so many MMCs in NA, that he was sort of nerdy, but still sexy and strong, and that he was a good guy. I'm so sick of the bad boy trope in NA, so I found him not only endearing but refreshing. 

The romantic plot arc. This is a contemporary romance where the romance and the characterization really come together in an organic way. I think the author did a good job of presenting realistic, organic conflict between the characters that really popped off the page. And though they didn't seem *perfect* for each other the way a lot of NA couples do, I think this made them even better, even more realistic. And I found myself rooting for them the whole way through. 

The sexytimes. Gah. Though tame by NA standards, the sensual aspects of this story do NOT suffer in the least. I love, love, loved them and wanted more! The chemistry and sexual tension was fantastic. And I loved the natural way the stereotypical roles were reversed between them.

WHAT I WANTED MORE OF

A stronger FMC. In some ways the weaker aspects of Jess' character make sense. She's been through a lot and having low self-esteem is a natural side effect. But as the story continued, I would have like to have seen more growth from her in that respect. I wanted her to kick ass and take names at the end, and for me it didn't really turn out like that. I won't say more because I'm desperately avoiding spoilers here, but suffice to say I wanted her to be stronger, even if only in personality rather than action. 

Character interaction. As I mentioned above, a lot of the story happens in a vacuum inside the MC's head. There is a TON of internal monologue, some of which I felt was pretty tangential, and which consequently slowed the pace for me significantly. Particularly toward the end, I lost my battle with my urge to skim, wanting to get back to the plot, conflict, and relationships. 

More focused internal monologue. The stream of consciousness style of narrative voice at times did a disservice to the plot and to the MC. All of these factors really went together for me to be a downside of the book. I think for some readers prone to give up at less than 100 pages if the story hasn't been thrown into full blown action, this may not be something they have patience for. I was engaged enough by the characters to keep reading, though. 

More distinct voice. I'm such a hyper-vigilant hardass about voice, and I wanted something more unique here. That's not say the voice is inauthentic or bad, it's not. It's just not as unique as I like my narration to be, particularly when a book is so narration heavy. 

All that said, I did enjoy this book. I think it's great for NA readers who are tired of the cookie cutter college story with a reformable bad boy MMC. And if you're a fan of underdogs, this MC might be a good one for you. 

Check it out and let me know what you think! Buy links are below!

Review: THAT ONE SUMMER by C.J. Duggan

Title: THAT ONE SUMMER by C.J. Duggan
Pub Date:  12/17/13 (out now!)
ARC received via YA Bounds Book Tours in exchange for an honest review
Dannie says: Not for me, though Goodreads indicates I'm the exception not the rule

Loving Chris Henderson would be wrong. Diabolically disastrous. I mean, what is there about him to love? He’s moody, bossy, brooding, a control freak, and that’s on a good day … but there was one achingly obvious fact that haunted my every thought, every minute of every day … 

He sure could kiss.

As the countdown to the new millennium begins, there is one thing everyone agrees on: no one wants to be in Onslow for New Year’s Eve.

So that can only mean one thing: road trip!

No longer the mousey, invisible, shy girl from years ago, Tammy Maskala is finally making up for all those lost summers. A new year with new friends, which astoundingly includes the bossy boy behind the bar, Chris Henderson.

She likes her new friends (at least most of them), so why does she secretly feel so out of place?

After chickening out on the trip, a last-minute change of heart sees Tammy racing to the Onslow Hotel, fearing she’s missed her chance for a ride. The last thing she expected to meet was a less-than-happy Onslow Boy leaning against his black panel van.

Now the countdown begins to reach the others at Point Shank before the party is over and the new year has begun. Alone in a car with only the infuriating Chris Henderson, Tammy can’t help but feel this is a disastrous start to what could have been a great adventure. But when the awkward road trip takes an unexpected turn, Tammy soon discovers that the way her traitorous heart feels about Chris is the biggest disaster of all.

Fogged up windows, moonlight swimming, bad karaoke and unearthed secrets; after this one summer nothing will ever be the same again.

To be fair I want to start by saying I didn't read the previous books in this series. I received the ARC with the understanding that this was a companion novel more than a sequel and I wouldn't need to have read the other books first to get into this one. I'd intended to read the prior two anyway but ran out of time. I'm not sure whether reading the others might have impacted my investment in the story. 

WHAT I LIKED

Chris. Characterization is one area where I think I might have gotten more out of this had I read the series, but I really enjoyed the L.I. in this book. He was intriguing and not typical of a lot of YA/NA leading males I've read recently. I found him refreshing. 

WHAT I LOVED

The setting. I haven't read a ton of books set in Australia and I don't think I've ever read one that wasn't set in a city, so I was intrigued by the rural aspects of this story and the camping element. I think the author did a good job of making the setting a character and keeping the outdoorsy-ness part of the conflict. 

WHAT I WANTED MORE OF

Conflict--It's probably fair to say this isn't the sort of book I'd pick up at Barnes & Noble. It's a little pink and fluffy for me. But I really felt that, even when compared to Dessen and the other authors in this corner of the genre, that this book lacked any tangible conflict or "so-what" factor. For me, the conflict that does exist felt contrived and superficial. 

Sensible plot elements--For me the closest thing to actual conflict was the idea where Chris and Tammy are going to "trick" the rest of their friends into believing they're having a summer fling. This plot element comes into play about half way through the book and by three quarters of the way through the book, it's dropped completely. I think the author could have done more with this if she wanted to, but as is it felt sort of forced and contrived to me, like someone had suggested it as an idea to give the book more conflict, rather than something the author devised organically for these characters. 

Interesting FMC--I really found Tammy to be an unengaging MC. For the majority of the read I didn't really feel invested in her having a positive outcome with Chris. She wasn't unlikable, just boring. Lack of self confidence and "woe-is-me" mentality does not a flawed, multifaceted MC make, and this was how I perceived Tammy. For some readers I think this works really well--it's the reasons why Bella Swan was such a popular FMC in Twilight. The reader can picture herself in Tammy's place and imagine that the story isn't happening to her. I like my MCs to be tragically flawed and very tangible, so this is really a matter of personal preference. 

Chemistry--this, too, might be a point where a little history was in order, but really I didn't sense any sort of tingle-inducing sparks between Chris and Tammy. I spent most of the romance elements saying to myself  "am I missing something here?" because I really didn't feel much in the way of tension between them. There were a couple scenes that might be exceptions to this rule (no spoilers, promise), but on the whole I really didn't feel like I was desperate to turn the page to see what happened next. And in terms of the story arc, this element felt very flat to me. 

Short story long, I'm filing this one under "maybe it's just me." There certainly seem to be gobs of positive reviews (including many, many 5* reviews on GoodReads.) But I definitely didn't feel it. 

Pick it up and let me know why I'm wrong!

Review: DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT by Sarah Mlynowski

Title: DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT by Sarah Mlynowski
Pub Date: March 11, 2014 from Random House Children's (Delacorte Press)
ARC received from publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Dannie says: *We* really, really liked it. 

We weren't always like this. We used to be average New York City high school sophomores. Until our homeroom went for flu shots. We were prepared for some side effects. Maybe a headache. Maybe a sore arm. We definitely didn't expect to get telepathic powers. But suddenly we could hear what everyone was thinking. Our friends. Our parents. Our crushes. Now we all know that Tess is in love with her best friend, Teddy. That Mackenzie cheated on Cooper. That, um, Nurse Carmichael used to be a stripper. 

Since we've kept our freakish skill a secret, we can sit next to the class brainiac and ace our tests. We can dump our boyfriends right before they dump us. We know what our friends really think of our jeans, our breath, our new bangs. We always know what's coming. Some of us will thrive. Some of us will crack. None of us will ever be the same. 

So stop obsessing about your ex. We're always listening.

WHAT I LIKED

The premise. I think it's current (with all the vaccine paranoia on the news etc) and a unique twist on the "I can hear what people think" trope. I love magical realism in general, and this is a nice twist. It's a like not a love for me though because I do feel like there is a lot of paranoia about vaccines and I felt like this might feed into that since it's never really confronted as a story element. 

The characters--it's really hard to pin point one in particular that stood out from the bunch, though, making them a like rather than a love. Because we are getting so many different characters' perspectives, there wasn't really enough time to invest in any of them completely. The possible exception to that might be Cooper, who I really wanted to love, and who kept surprising me. But I didn't get to spend enough time with him to fall completely in love.

WHAT I LOVED

The narrative voice. It took me a while to get used to first person plural POV, but once I did, it was less of a distraction from the story than I expected it to be. Because that was a pleasant surprise and because it was so, so well done, it was a definite love for me. Probably my favorite part of the read. 

The story structure and pace. I had some other competing projects during this read, so it isn't one I finished in under a day, but I did feel that the pace was strong and that the story for the most part moved forward at a good clip. I also felt that the story itself had enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing and engaged, and I felt the overall story arc was well structured. 

The character of "we". This is something I hadn't seen done before in contemporary YA and I felt like it was done exceptionally well. I was completely bought in, which isn't always the case with magical realism for me. With this novel I was able to completely suspend my disbelief and dive into the story. Such a fun read. 

WHAT I WANTED MORE OF

Trivial point first: The cover--meh. If I saw this in B&N it would not have grabbed my attention. But more than that, after reading, I'm not exactly sure who these girls are. They don't seem to coincide with the girls I felt stood out the most in the story, and they ignore the character who did, Cooper (a guy.) I felt underwhelmed by the cover. Trivial, I know, but it irked me. 

Denouement. I felt like the story wrapped up too quickly post climactic arc. It felt as if it was left open for a sequel, but in this case I didn't feel like there was enough story to justify part two. What she has here is great, I just wanted more resolution. 

More realistic and multifaceted adult characters. Some of the funniest moments for me were when "we" were overhearing the thoughts of the adults in the story. However, I was disappointed how superficial that aspect remained. I wanted there to be at least one adult character who surprised the teens in a good way--whether that be through their caring for the teen characters, their insightfulness, etc. And I felt like we never really got that. Granted, this is me reading the book as an adult reader, so the intended audience might not feel the same way. But I felt like there was a missed opportunity for a teachable moment there. 

Short story long, while this isn't one I'd pick up and re-read over and over again, it was a fun read the first time around. If you're looking for a twisty YA Contemp with quirky voice and interesting resolution, check this one out. Buy links are below!