What We Are Reading at Our House - YA/Adult Edition

Batting last and playing right field, I present YA/Adult books.

Messy (Spoiled #2) by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
Because I just finished this last night, I have to put it first. I am a fan of the Fug Girls and read their website almost daily. I appreciate their wit and I love that they infuse their fashion work with literary references, oftentimes YA from Anne of Green Gables to Sweet Valley High and the Hunger Games. As fans of YA I was so pleased when I learned they were writing their own series. I thoroughly enjoyed their first book, Spoiled (2011) and finally got around to reading last year's equally hilarious sequel, Messy.

For a series that is set in the world of Hollywood extreme fame, celebrity culture, and wealth, the teenage characters are refreshingly well rounded and interesting. Don't let the glossy, teen magazine-like covers turn you off. What's inside is pop culture gold. And laugh-out-loud funny. Seriously, they are comedy team that rivals Pohler/Fey.

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
And another book by one of my favorite writers! That I follow online! And Twitter! Okay, and Pinterest! Because she. Is. Terrific.

Sequels are tough acts and this one, while excellent, suffered the usual pitfalls of having to move things along without resolving too much. There are still unanswered questions from the first book and new mysteries. Plus, there's lots of the great Zuzana for much needed comic relief because it is heavy stuff in here: Bodies for Karou to rebuild, lost underground villages, bloody revolution, murder, and that whole chilling Thiago deal. And, of course, the tortured love story of Karou and Akiva. C'mon book #3.


I had a bit of an adult book trend. One with unhappy people in unhappy relationships. Not really fun at all. I only really liked the poetry collection Stag's Leap and its foundation of an ended marriage still wrecked me.

Good Kids by Benjamin Nugent
A friend recommended this 2013 title and it sounded like potential Alex material. Unfortunately, I had a difficult time keeping interested in both the story and the characters. Josh and Khadijah, high school acquaintances and kind of outsiders, witness his dad and her mom kissing in the grocery store. The ramifications from this affair follows them through early adulthood where they reconnect while both engaged to other people. Josh in particular can't move on, although his life as an accidental bassist in a pop/alternative band was a nice surprise.



The other adult 30-something relationship book I read was Zadie Smith's NW. It was ... okay.  I liked some parts but mostly it was another book where I just didn't like the characters as people and so I had difficulty finding their stories worthwhile.

My favorite adult book was Karen Russell's Vampires in the Lemon Grove. She is a wonder and she is from Florida. I'm so proud.

This is another collection of short stories and I think this is really where Karen Russell shines. The stories all contain an element of the fantastic and she works it all so well. And she is funny in "Dougbert Shackleton's Rules for Antarctic Tailgating", for instance. But she always infuses a layer of the mysterious. Of strangeness on the brink of somewhere. Of odd tastes and unusual sounds you can't quite place but sense their presence. And a little fear. Okay, sometimes a lot of fear. So Deliciously Good.

My favorite story, the one I think about all the time, is "Reeling for the Empire" about teen girls forced/tricked to work in a silk factory. A close second would be "The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis" about bully teenage boys.  Okay, and "Proving Up" about families settling the American West. With a twist. Ack! *shivers*

Hello, Alex Committee, this is for sure one for the list.

After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn

Wouldn't it be hard to be just a regular run-of-the-mill kid if both of your parents were superheroes? What would it be like to feel that you're a constant disappointment to your father who not only heads up the Olympiad (the superhero group), but is adored and revered by all (even though privately he's a bit of a jerk)?

Celia, the only daughter of Blaze and Captain Olympus, lets us know it totally sucks in this very fun novel about growing up in the shadow of your super-human parents.

I really enjoyed this book. We get to see behind the mask, and the very human downfalls that even superheros can't avoid. Celia is a fantastic character to follow. She's smart, wry, and embittered in just the right amounts. As a reader, I was rooting for her from the get go. There was quite a bit of humor in this story (Celia gets kidnapped so much she is quite blase about the whole experience, frustrating her kidnappers to no end).

I really think this could be on next year's Alex Award list.

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Book Source = Tayshas Review Copy

Vacation Reading

I'm back from a lovely vacation, but alas, I had so much fun I only read two books the entire time! And they were both adult books! For shame! I find myself busy so I will review in haiku. Enjoy!

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Had I liked Quentin
I would have enjoyed this much
much more than I did.



The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill


Meena seemed too good
to be true, but it was still
compelling reading.

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Book Sources:
The Magicians - ARC taken from library staff share shelf.
The Book of Negroes - purchased by self.

Jenn H.'s Vacation Reads: Part 2

Well, this continuation is mostly manga. But those who know me won't be too surprised.

Click is the story of a boy, who awakens one morning to discover a terrible secret about his family: when they reach puberty, they change gender! Joonha has always been a chauvanistic and proud boy, but when he finds himself suddenly female, he must move far away and cut off contact with his new girlfriend and his lifelong best friend. Now Joonha is a tough girl in a new high school, just trying to make it through without attracting too much attention. Unfortunately, neither her own nature nor her former friends are willing to let that happen.

Next was the newest volume of The Wallflower by Tomoko Hayakawa. I have been reading this one for awhile and it has recently been made into a anime, which I am looking forward to watching. Four beautiful boys have made a deal with their landlady: they can live in her fabulous mansion rent-free if they can turn her neice, Sunako, into a lady. Simple, right? Wrong! Sunako loves nothing better than horror/slash movies and hiding in the darkness. She is often mistaken for a ghost (or the girl from The Ring of the same name). She is dark, socially awkward, and not pretty, and that is exactly the way she likes it. Can a cutie pie, a brain, a ladies man, and a dangerous boy change Sunako? Or will she change them?

This is a really funny manga, strangely drawn in a style I don't normally like. But you can't help but root for Sunako and start to realize that the boys are more than just a pretty face. I was addicted after volume 1.

Now two new ones for me: The Day I Become a Butterfly and Seduction More Beautiful Than Love. Both of these are more adult books, but might make a good addition to an adult GN collection.

The Day I Become a Butterfly by Sumomo Yumeka is a collections of short love stories. These stories vary from typical sappy romances to quirky homosexual relationships. Don't get me wrong, there is no nudity or anything truely offensive. This book was definitely written for romantics, with kissing and handholding as the main goals. It just covers a wide spectrum of relationships. I really enjoyed the title story, about a boy (actually even I had trouble telling this one was a boy) who is dying, but also happens to be falling in love with another boy who is rumored to be able to sense death. The art style for all of the stories is soft and quite beautiful. It adds to the sentimental nature without being overly saccharine.

Seduction More Beautiful Than Love by Lee Hyeon-Sook appears to also be a love story, if an unconventional one. Daoun is a young first-year high school teacher, trying hard to reach her students. Ryumin is the local "prince charming" with a bad attitude and a crush on his teacher, Daoun. Enter Hyuwoo, a new teacher who went to school with Daoun and has always had a crush on her, too, and we have a love triangle of the most scandalous sort. Which handsome man will win over Daoun? And will her choice destroy her?

Okay, I admit, I did pick this up for the scandal. But the story is pretty intricate and could be good. I've only read vol. 1, so we'll have to see. But it can definitely be a guilty pleasure!

Speaking of which, I also picked up the new Anita Blake book with my birthday money. Blood Noir by Laurell K. Hamilton focuses on Jason the werewolf, one of my favorite characters. Jason's abusive father is dying and he needs to bring a girlfriend home to prove he is not gay. Unfortunately, he just broke up with his girlfriend; so, Anita offers to fill the position for a weekend visit. To Asheville, NC!!!! I am thrilled that one of my favorite LKH characters is from a place on two hours away from where I grew up.

Anyway, sounds fairly simple for Anita's world, right? Well.....throw in a wedding where the bridegroom just happens to be a ringer for Jason, staying in the same hotel, and the confusion abounds. Oh, and the bridegroom's father is the governor of the state and a presidential hopeful. And someone wants to kill him. So, now Anita is not only dealing with emotional baggage, but also the very real threat of someone trying to kill her best friend. It was fun and very much an Anita Blake story. So if you are an LKH addict, enjoy!!

Well, I am still not done. But these are the most adult things I read over my vacation. I will continue will the rest later. Sorry, I seem to be hogging the blog. Just read a lot of new stuff and feel like sharing.

Vacation Reading

So I had a lovely vacation. Full of get-togethers, my brother's wedding, not enough relaxing...but it was one of the best trips home I've had in a long time. I also did some reading so in brief here's what I read and what I thought. It's in order of being read.

Genesis Alpha - Rune Michaels
This started out pretty strong. A teen boy who's always looked up to his older brother is floored when his brother is arrested for a vicious murder. Lots of gaming action, veers into the realm of science fiction about half way through. I had the plot figured out pretty early on which made this short book seem a bit long to me. There were some good plot twists, but it didn't stand out for me.




Boy Toy - Barry Lyga
Wow. This wasn't what I was expecting at all. This is a lot different than Fan Boy and Goth Girl. This was a serious book about a boy who is sexually abused by his teacher. Fast forward 5 or so years and he's about to graduate from high school and his abuser has just been released from prison. It was a heavy book that was really difficult for me to read. I had to keep putting it down. Really well written, but I'm glad I'm finished with it. This one will be great for kids looking for abuse survival stories. I don't really like the cover or the title though. It isn't selling itself as a serious story and I fear that people won't like it because they'll pick it up and expect something totally different.

The Keep - Jennifer Egan
A dark gothic book. I hated the main character for most of the book. I mean Danny was fun to read about, but I kept thinking, "What a complete loser asshole." When he was a kid, him and his older cousin left behind an unpopular cousin in a cave. He found his way out 3 days later on the brink of death. Fast forward into their late 30s early 40s and the same cousin has because a millionaire, bought a castle, and extended Danny an invitation and plane ticket to join him there. The castle is in disrepair, there is a strange old woman who lives in the castle keep and won't leave, and there are very strange things going on. This was amazing.

A Woman in Berlin - Anonymous
A diary of a woman in Berlin at then end of WWII as the Russians enter the city. This is a frank account of the bombing, the take-over of the city by the Russians and the mass rape of the women who were left largely unprotected in the city. It made me hope that I'm never ever caught in a war zone.






Falling Boy - Alison McGee
A book about a boy who has to come to terms with why he's in a wheelchair and the group of kids that help him come out of his shell. I didn't like this one nearly as much as her All Rivers Flow to the Sea which was a lyrical and beautiful book about sisters and grief.





The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
Yay! Just as fun as the first time I read it. I ran out of books and needed something to read on the plane ride home and I went into the airport bookstore looking for this. And, miracle of miracles, it was actually there. I laughed maybe even more than the first time. I wish I had more time so that I could read all the rest in the series right away. It'll have to wait which makes me sad.






And I was lucky enough to catch the PBS production of Murder at the Vicarage one night and it was wonderful. I want to watch all the Miss Marple mysteries where Geraldine McEwan is Miss Marple. Fabulous. Sadly they are not on netflix. Only the old series is and I don't like that Miss Marple.