Audio Book Review: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

!!!!!! I need to start this review with exclamations. That's how awesome this book AND the audio narration are. My heart melted more than once, and yours will too (otherwise there is something wrong with you. Go get checked out my a medical professional to see if your missing your heart).

AMAZING COVER AWARD
(We rarely like covers of YA books,
this is a big deal).

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell:

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under. (GoodReads).

Absurdity: ZERO. And props to Rowell for it.
Originality: 10. The '80s! Interesting characters who not one-dimensional! Ohama! This world feels real and fresh.
Audio Narration: 8. The guy and girl who do this nail it. Sometimes its weird to have someone's feelings read out loud to you, but here, it is amazing.
Level of Paranormal Romance: 10! Oh man, I can't even tell you, the swoon goes for days. The romantic quotes from this book that stick in your head are endless.

“He wound the scarf around his fingers until her hand was hanging in the space between them.
Then he slid the silk and his fingers into her open palm.
And Eleanor disintegrated.” 

I want to add more, but I don't want to ruin it for you. Rowell captures perfectly that feeling of finding someone and thinking "how did I ever eat/dance/think about Josh Duhamel (errrr*) before? I can never go back to a time without him/her."  
Level of Harry Potterness: 7. This book is smart and subtle. For starters, it becomes clear that neither E or P see themselves as others see them. And then knowing each other helps them see that they are more than they first thought. Oh and it makes you think about love. A lot......Just read it already.

(*I finished this book and then immediately watched Safe Haven, starring said handsome man. This act of utter girly-ness has entwined my love of this book with my love of J.D. It works.)

Book Review: And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

My new year's resolution was to read more smart books.  I am not sure if this counts, New York Times best selling books may or MAY NOT be smart, but at least it is a new book with buzz outside of my normal realm of books.  It took me quite a long time to get into And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini, as I was seriously distracted by the Selection Series....resolutions, sigh.

Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. 

In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. 

Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe—from Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos—the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.

Originality: 7- the way the stories cascade from the initial events is different and impressive.
Absurdity: 2- this book is more like a cultural fiction- does that make sense?  Historical doesn't seem right since it covers recent time, but fictionalizes what I imagine are stories with unpleasant nuggets of truth.
Level of Paranormal Romance: NA.
Level of Harry Potter-ness: 5.  While the stories were interesting and there was craftsmanship in the writing, it fell flat for me.  My BF's work book club read this, and he was all "the point is to show how events impact others lives etc."  I found that the little snippets of each character, while interesting  didn't contribute well to an overall plot of the book.  It made for no character development  just random ideas that I imagine the author said to himself "Ah yes! cool idea! lets write a few pages and then never have to work to make it fit into the story! or develop a character!"

I do not regret reading it, the stories definitely contained interesting tidbits and perspectives from a land foreign to me, but overall, I would have preferred less distraction and more of a cohesive story.

Audio Book Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Steifvater, The Raven Cycle

Loved my cover edition

GS reviewed this way back when... how am I so late to the party?

Full confession time, I could not get through The Scorpio Races (this link is to GS's glowing review)... I KNOW I KNOW.  Consequently, I did not jump on the Steifvater bandwagon, even at the promise of a group of high school boys from a private school and magic.  My bad.


Blue Sargent, the daughter of the town psychic in Henrietta, Virginia, has been told for as long as she can remember that if she ever kisses her true love, he will die. But she is too practical to believe in things like true love. Her policy is to stay away from the rich boys at the prestigious Aglionby Academy. The boys there — known as Raven Boys — can only mean trouble. (via)

I loved this.  Yesterday, with 7 minutes left of the audio book, I considered sitting in the parking garage at work to finish.  Alas, deadlines called, but as soon as I was done I made a beeline for my car.

Narrator Voice: 8- It is narrated by a man and at first I was all up in arms and ready to throw in the towel, BUT he was amazing. Great voices, creepiness, and pace.  Totally fit the book, as did the music at key plot points and between chapters  (some of which was composed and played by Maggie herself! Impressive).  

Cant wait to get my hands on book 2!

Review: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Told in a refreshingly genuine and laugh-out-loud funny voice, THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE is an exuberant novel about identity, friendship, and the power of music to bring people together (GoodReads).

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales did not make me laugh at loud, but I thought this book had important things to say about bullying and how important it is to be able to find somewhere and someone with whom you can be yourself. PSA --but I really liked it anyways.

Originality: 6. This book packs a serious punch in chapter 1. I haven't read a lot about bullying in high schools, but this rang as authentic. I felt for Elise (whose name I read as Elsie, whatevs...) and really rooted for her to find herself, but also was struck by how hard it seemed for her to change her situation. We always tell kids 'be strong, be yourself' but here Elise shows that sometimes that just isn't enough and how wearing that can be.

Absurdity: 4. AGAIN with the sneaking out of the house. This seems to be around all the time in YA books (Dessen's Along for the Ride and Everneath come to mind. Does no one's parents have an alarm system!? My parents totally had that set to buzz when doors opened. No sneaking out).

Level of Paranormal Romance: 3. The romance is understated (or more of a booty call) but it works and not every story needs to be a heavy handed romance.

Level of Harry-Potterness: 6. Now this book doesn't grip you with world building, but I DID read it in a single night, so obviously I found it engrossing. I am not a huge music groupie, but I like the idea that you could go and look up the songs. I am sure someone made a Spotify playlist!

This book is due out Sept 17- get on the waiting list now! (Or preorder, if you have a fantasy house with as many bookshelves as you could possibly want. Also, I am jealous of you).

FTC Full Disclosure: I received a review copy from the Macmillian Children's Publishing Group of Farrar, Straus and Giroux via NetGalley. Happy reading followed. (We do not accept or receive compensation for reviews at YAF and WS.)

Top Ten Tuesday: Required Reading

YO PEOPLE. Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the fab The Broke and the Bookish was hard! We apparently are not budding lit professors. Nevertheless, here is what makes our list as teachable books. Cheers to all those TTT participants out there! share your ideas!

 
• The Book Thief- definitely appropriate for an American Studies class and a good comparison to Anne Frank's Diary of a young girl as it tells the story of a different but in many ways same young girl in WWII.
• And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini. Not because everyone is all "we love the Kite Runner" but because of the interesting way the book floats around the narrators, it almost has a feeling of stream of consciousness.  I think someone smarter then me in this subject would have more to say.  (you could say Shatter Me was going for the stream of conscious thing, but not as well done, though I still enjoyed it. Can't say that book is worthy of school reading)
• David Leviathan's The Lovers Dictionary (which CC LOVED) for a creative writing class.  Many YA authors (forever side eye for the Fallen series...where I will now lump the Selection series as well)  out there could probably benefit from learning to show a character rather then tell a story.  This book almost broke my heart, in so few words, almost no context, ZERO world building, and just generally well chosen sentences.
• Connie Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog- its such a smart book, I most likely missed half the literary puns/ historical references. Help would be great.
• Neil Gaiman Ananzi Boys, I like how he turns history/folk culture/myth on its head. You could read this in a modern lit class.

Stacking the Shelves: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

The second installment in the all-new series from the masterful, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...

Eek! We got an ARC of the Raven Cycle #2,  The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater. Cue the happy dances. Crazy Camper is crushing the audiobook of the first one, and I read it last year and loved it. I am ready for more Gansey and Blue.

Happy Saturday! A big thanks to Tynga's Reviews for hosting Stacking the Shelves, a way to highlight the new reads we have picked up!  What is new on your shelves this weekend?

Review: Partials by Dan Wells

Grad Student and Goosie Mama have both reviewed this:

• GS- for the win! "RUN, don't walk, to the nearest copy of Partials by Dan Wells. This book is great!!"

• Goosie Mama- on the fence "Not to mention, aside from being generally ridiculous (a camel in an abandoned mansion? Huh? How is this relevant?) this story was all about saving the human race (yawn) and there was no young adult romance! Boo!"

Since I love bandwagons and GS recommendations, I gave it a try. While I was not over the moon like GS, I definitely liked it more than Goosie Mama:

Redux Redux review (see the other ladies for full reviews):

PROS: distopian future WITH SOME adults.  Thank goodness. And there seems to be endless shopping in this distopian future and handsome boys/androids, and plot twists.

CONS:  lots of medical language....DNA.... cells...snooze.  All I remember about biology in 9th grade was a sweet mitochondria I made out of candy and that my teacher was pretty cute.  No wonder I am not a doctor.  

Anyone else read this?  What did you think?  Compared to some other trilogies out there ( Hunger Games, Divergent) I think this one is a step down, but none-the-less a fast fun read! Definitely putting a hold on the next one, which actually looks even better.

Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

This never happens. But it still
pretty much gets to the heart of the
book. Aka feelings and feel-ups.

I apparently like books about southern teenagers dealing with hardcore life issues (foster care, arrests, druggie parents, abuse, you name it, they deal with it). Thanks to Simone Echols and Katie McGarry's Pushing the Limits series, there are a fair number of these books to go around. And after reading Dare You To I am ready to read more.

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth." "No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again.... "I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him. But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all... (GoodReads).

Honestly, that top quote embarrasses me enough that I considered cutting it from this blog review. But I am keeping things real, for the readers!
Originality: 3. Wrong side of the tracks heroine finds love with varsity athlete. We have met all of these kiddos before on TV and in books and movies, but its still fun to visit.
Absurdity: 4. I feel like every time teenagers do stupid things stemming from a lack of communication I am frustrated and find it absurd. I need to learn. This is apparently an essential part of YA life.
Level of Paranormal Romance: 7.  Let me reiterate: wrong side of the tracks heroine finds love with varsity athlete.  So this is not a pioneering setup but HECK YA for McGarry's ability to write some great romance scenes.
Level of Harry Potterness: 2/8. OK so this book is not exactly high on literary qualities, but it gets a 2/8 because I LIKE BOOKS WITH COMPANION NOVELS. I am ready to go read Pushing the Limits, the first book in this series about some of the background characters here.

PS: I have assigned this book a theme song. Love, as Beth NEEDS TO GET HER HEAD AROUND (and here I shake her shoulders cause she is a fool) is all about trust.

PPS: I am pretty sure this song dates me but whatevs, its a keeper.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received a review copy from Harlequin (UK) Limited via NetGalley. Happy reading followed. (We do not accept or receive compensation for reviews at YAF and WS.)

Waiting on Wednesday; Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind? (GoodReads). 

THIS COVER IS ADORABLE. THE END.

I am listening to an audiobook of Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell and am TOTS into it this week. I think I am going to be be a big fan of Fangirl as well. Due of Sept, 10th, it is my offering to the WoW world, but I think everyone already has their eyes on it. I am late to the party, but at least I got here! What made your WoW?

As always, a cheers of our whiskey sours to Jill at Breaking the Spine for hosting Waiting on Wednesday, a great way to share and learn about new books arriving soon!

Review: The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen is a lovely book about Walls of Water "where the secrets are thicker than the fog from the town’s famous waterfalls, and the stuff of superstition is just as real as you want it to be."


It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather during Walls of Water’s heyday, and once the town’s grandest home—has stood for years as a lonely monument to misfortune and scandal. And Willa herself has long strived to build a life beyond the brooding Jackson family shadow. No easy task in a town shaped by years of tradition and the well-marked boundaries of the haves and have-nots.

But Willa has lately learned that an old classmate—socialite do-gooder Paxton Osgood—of the very prominent Osgood family, has restored the Blue Ridge Madam to her former glory, with plans to open a top-flight inn. Maybe, at last, the troubled past can be laid to rest while something new and wonderful rises from its ashes. But what rises instead is a skeleton, found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, and certain to drag up dire consequences along with it.

For the bones—those of charismatic traveling salesman Tucker Devlin, who worked his dark charms on Walls of Water seventy-five years ago—are not all that lay hidden out of sight and mind. Long-kept secrets surrounding the troubling remains have also come to light, seemingly heralded by a spate of sudden strange occurrences throughout the town. Now, thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the dangerous passions and tragic betrayals that once bound their families—and uncover truths of the long-dead that have transcended time and defied the grave to touch the hearts and souls of the living (GoodReads).

Originality:  8.Allen's books stand out for their great small towns, hints of magic, and southern charm. 

Absurdity: 2. Low, low, low, as long as you are cool with a bit of magical realism. Which I am.

Level of Paranormal Romance: Allen's books have characters my own age! Late-twenties peeps trying to figure out who they are as adults in their relationships in their small hometown of Walls of Water. I think lots of us can relate. Plus the relationships have just the right amount of swoon.
Level of Harry Potterness: 4. This is a very easy read, but it really caught my interest because of the way Allen tells the story jointly through the points of view of the four main characters. I was totally charmed.