Review: Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger

Title **Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1)
Author **Gail Carriger**
Publisher **Little, Brown Books for Young Readers**
Release Date **February 5, 2013*
Source  **Purchased from B&N**

Summary from Goodreads:

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Sophronia Temminnick at 14 is a great trial more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners -- and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Her poor mother, desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady, enrolls the lively tomboy in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage -- in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

I am a huge Gail Carriger fan.  Huge.  Her adult Parasol Protectorate series was an absolute delight to read, so I was really excited to see that she was branching off into the Young Adult world.  I bought Etiquette & Espionage the day it came out and eagerly dove right in.  It had almost everything I loved about the Parasol Protectorate, strong and witty female main characters, a fun setting and was set in the same world that I had previously fallen in love with.  The steampunk elements are a real treat and they don’t overpower the story.  There was just enough to intrigue my interests while not bogging me down with all of the mechanical lingo.

But, and I really do hate to say it, I didn’t love the story.  I was never really invested in Sophronia or whatever it was she was doing at the moment and after reading it I had to ask myself what actually happened in the book.  It felt more like a second book in a series rather than a first book to me, which makes me hopeful that the next book will pack a little more punch than this one did.  I thought the idea of the Finishing School was so much fun, but it really fell short for me.

I ended up rating the book 3 stars on Goodreads, because I do adore the writing and the author’s wit, I just didn’t particularly care for the story.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed that my tune will change when I read the next book in the series.

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Bout of Books 6.0: Goals

Happy 2013!  I'm already off to a great start with some amazing books this year and I hope to keep it up next week participating in Bout of Books.

The 411 about Bout of Books:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 7th and runs through Sunday, January 13th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 6.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Booksblog. -From the Bout of Books 6.0 team

My goals for the week:

• 1 "buddy read" with Ashton @ It's All Coming Up Sunshine, we've picked The Disenchantments

• 3 other books - I have one NetGalley book I really want to get to and two others that I haven't decided yet.  Any awesome recommendations are welcome!
• Participate in at least one of the twitter chats (my username is @lauren_620) 

Sorry, Ash, I thought your goals sounded great so I decided to do the same :)

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Review: Dare Me by Megann Abbott

Title ** Dare Me**
Author **Megan Abbott**
Publisher **Reagan Arthur Books**
Release Date **July 31, 2012**
Source **Library**

Summary from Goodreads:

Addy Hanlon has always been Beth Cassidy's best friend and trusted lieutenant. Beth calls the shots and Addy carries them out, a long-established order of things that has brought them to the pinnacle of their high-school careers. Now they're seniors who rule the intensely competitive cheer squad, feared and followed by the other girls -- until the young new coach arrives.

Cool and commanding, an emissary from the adult world just beyond their reach, Coach Colette French draws Addy and the other cheerleaders into her life. Only Beth, unsettled by the new regime, remains outside Coach's golden circle, waging a subtle but vicious campaign to regain her position as "top girl" -- both with the team and with Addy herself.

Then a suicide focuses a police investigation on Coach and her squad. After the first wave of shock and grief, Addy tries to uncover the truth behind the death -- and learns that the boundary between loyalty and love can be dangerous terrain.

The raw passions of girlhood are brought to life in this taut, unflinching exploration of friendship, ambition, and power. Award-winning novelist Megan Abbott, writing with what Tom Perrotta has hailed as "total authority and an almost desperate intensity," provides a harrowing glimpse into the dark heart of the all-American girl.

I am really not sure what I thought this book would be going into it.  I saw an ad for it on Goodreads and decided to see if my library had it and they did so I gave it a chance.

First let me say that this is a much darker than I thought it would be.  I loved the talk about cheerleaders because I cheered in high school.  I remember at one point thinking that high school regulations didn’t allow the things these girls were doing, but the author clearly did her homework and noted that it wasn’t legal for competition.  And there are parts that the author has absolutely nailed when it comes to some teenaged girls, some things were a bit extreme but 1. This is fiction and 2. We’re talking about teenage girls, some of them have potential to do extreme very well.

Don’t go into this book thinking it will be a light read with a couple of mean girl moments.  I can’t really think of any characters that I truly liked, but I am pretty sure that was the author’s intentions and she nailed it.  The story is dark and twisty with hints of mystery and very mature for a YA.  This was a great transition back to YA from the adult mysteries and thrillers I was really into this summer.  So if you are looking for a darker YA read and don’t mind some serious drama, this is a great book to read!

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Guest Review: The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jensen

It's Guest Review Friday with Ashton! 

Title **The Fine Art of Truth or Dare**
Author **Melissa Jensen**
Publisher **Gallery Books/MTV Books**
Release Date **February 16, 2012**
Source **Nook Book**

Summary from Goodreads:

Pretty in Pink meets Anna and the French Kiss in this charming romantic comedy

Ella is nearly invisible at the Willing School, and that’s just fine by her. She’s got her friends—the fabulous Frankie and their sweet cohort Sadie. She’s got her art—and her idol, the unappreciated 19th-century painter Edward Willing. Still, it’s hard being a nobody and having a crush on the biggest somebody in the school: Alex Bainbridge. Especially when he is your French tutor, and lessons have started becoming, well, certainly more interesting than French ever has been before. But can the invisible girl actually end up with a happily ever after with the golden boy, when no one even knows they’re dating? And is Ella going to dare to be that girl?

First, hi! I’m Ashton and I’m so excited to write a little review for this blog of Lar’s!
I have to tell you something, I loved Ann and the French Kiss … loved it. So there was really no hope that this book would live up to its tagline. But here’s what I will tell you, if you like books like Anna and the French Kiss you should really give this book a go. It is a really sweet read, and sometimes life just needs a sweet read.

This book wasn’t slow, I thought it had a good pace, but it was on page 216 when I finally fell in love with this book. You know how sometimes there is a moment where a book just hooks you? For this book, for me, it was page 216. I think it only got better from there.

The story is centered on Ella and the relationships in her life. They go from the weird (she talks to a dead artist) to the incredibly sweet (her Nonna). One thing I like about this book is how well developed the characters are – I feel like I can hear her best friend Sadie singing karaoke and Frankie’s glaring eyes during Truth or Dare. But most of Ella’s time is occupied thinking about Alex.

Alex is adorable. From the very beginning he is charming. I think he had me when Ella found a picture he had drawn of a mermaid (I love mermaids, I know not why). He makes this whole story better, because while always charming, he often gets lost trying to figure out his life, and what Ella is thinking. He had some of my favorite dialogue in the book, but I won’t share them – don’t want to spoil anything for you!

This sweet read is a story worth reading.

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Guest Review: Because of Low by Abbi Glines

Another awesome Guest Review from Ashton!!

Title **Because of Low (Sea Breeze #2)**
Author **Abbi Glines**
Publisher **Wild Child Publishing**
Release Date **February 7, 2012**
Source **eBook**

Summary from Goodreads:

In my debut novel, Breathe, Sadie may have fallen in love with the teen rock star, Jax Stone, but readers fell head over heels for Marcus Hardy. This is his story…

Marcus Hardy had hoped to enjoy a year away at college while he put the summer he’d rather forget behind him. But instead, he’s jerked right back to the coastal town of Sea Breeze, Alabama due to a family crisis. His dear ol' dad found himself a girlfriend only a few years older than Marcus. So now his sister needs help dealing with their mother who is mentally falling apart. The only bright spot to returning is the fascinating red head who sleeps over several times a week. The problem is she's sleeping in bed with his new roommate, Cage Watson.

Willow “Low” Foster needs a place to live. Running to Cage’s apartment every time her sister kicks her out isn’t exactly a long term solution. Juggling her courses at the local community college and a part time job doesn’t produce excess income. But Cage has a new roommate and suddenly sleeping over at her best friend’s apartment isn’t such a bad thing. Not when she gets to see those sexy green eyes of Marcus Hardy’s twinkle when he smiles at her like he wants her there.

Even though Cage seems a little territorial where Low is concerned, Marcus finds time to spend with Low without upsetting his roommate. Cage may use his small college baseball star persona to sleep with every hot female in his path but he’s still under the disillusion that when he’s through sowing his wild oats, he’s going to marry Low. Marcus intends to change that assumption for both Cage and Low. Until his carefully laid plans come crashing down with a revelation he never expected. He’ll have to choose between Low or his family. Because once the truth comes out.... there’s no other choice.

Like the summary says, I was one of many that fell in love with Marcus, while he was busy falling in love with Sadie in Breathe. I was very excited to read another book by Abbi, as well as get a story all about Marcus, because after the last book, he deserved something good.

However, Because of Low isn’t the best of times for Marcus. Because of family drama he has moved back home, leaving college, to take care of his mom and his sister. When he moves back home he moves into an apartment with Cage, a guy he doesn’t know at all, but plays baseball with his best friend Preston.

Cage, did not win me over, ever in this book. He’s sleazy. He’s possessive (of Low). & he really doesn’t care. I was not a fan. Luckily, he does add his own moments to the story, where it could not have gone on without him. So, there’s that.

Then there is Low. Sometimes I was really annoyed with Low – because obviously she had potential and was making something of herself, but it was hard to deal with her self-doubt. But as it was intended, Low was hard not to like. She took care of everyone – Cage, Marcus, her sister, her niece, etc. and always seemed happy to do it. She’s the type of girl you root for, who you want to see get her prince charming. Watching her and Marcus fall in love, really was a wonderful story.

Unlike Breathe, this story was told from both Marcus and Low’s perspectives. Which was fun, because you really got to be inside both of their heads – which is what I enjoy about reading so much. While this book wasn’t about a rock star, it defiantly held its own in the Sea Breeze series.

Book 3 will be up next week!

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Review: Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan

Title **Love is the Higher Law**
Author **David Levithan**
Publisher **Knopf Books for Young Readers**
Release Date **August 25, 2009**
Source **Library**

Summary from Goodreads:

First there is a Before, and then there is an After. . . .

The lives of three teens—Claire, Jasper, and Peter—are altered forever on September 11, 2001. Claire, a high school junior, has to get to her younger brother in his classroom. Jasper, a college sophomore from Brooklyn, wakes to his parents’ frantic calls from Korea, wondering if he’s okay. Peter, a classmate of Claire’s, has to make his way back to school as everything happens around him.

Here are three teens whose intertwining lives are reshaped by this catastrophic event. As each gets to know the other, their moments become wound around each other’s in a way that leads to new understandings, new friendships, and new levels of awareness for the world around them and the people close by.

David Levithan has written a novel of loss and grief, but also one of hope and redemption as his characters slowly learn to move forward in their lives, despite being changed forever.

This review is going to be slightly different from what I usually post.  Consider yourself warned :)

Aside from the obvious reason that I love all things David Levithan, I picked up Love is the Higher Law to discuss with my online book club today.  I loved the idea; we could read and discuss as a small way to remember 9/11/2001.  I guess I wasn’t really ready for all of the remembering, because this book definitely resurfaced some feelings I had 11 years ago and man, were they intense.  I was a year younger than Claire and Peter when the World Trade Center fell, so I was in a very similar place in my life as the characters.  They lived in NYC, which makes our lives very different, but I could definitely relate to where I was at that time of my life.  It’s really different to read a book about an event that I lived through.  What will it feel like for them?  It’s also crazy for me to think that there are people in the US that didn’t experience the events of 9/11.  It’s just difficult to wrap my head around it all. 

This quote really resounded with me, “I certainly have room in my life for caution, but I have no room in my life for paralyzing fear.  There’s always a risk.  There always have been.  But I’d rather live my life than die of negations.”  I really think anyone who lived through this can relate to this quote.  We were suddenly faced with fears we never really even thought about before. 

I’m not going to get political, but the ending rubbed me the wrong way.  Instead of ending the book in a “happier” place, I almost felt like there was an anti-George Bush or anti-war agenda that was being subtly pushed.  So let’s just leave it at that I am a little torn on how I feel about this book.  I loved the writing and some of the messages David Levithan always seems to stick to us, but there were parts that I didn’t love. 

I think this is a great read for anyone in high school or early college years when the attacks occurred.  It was a way for me to compare my experience and reflect on things that have happened.  It also makes me proud and thankful to be where I am and have the privileges that I do.   I will never forget.

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Review: Skinny by Donna Cooner

Title **Skinny**
Author **Donna Cooner**
Publisher **Scholastic**
Release Date **October 1, 2012**
Source **ARC from Publisher**

Summary from Goodreads:

Find your voice.

Hopeless. Freak. Elephant. Pitiful. These are the words of Skinny, the vicious voice that lives inside fifteen-year-old Ever Davies’s head. Skinny tells Ever all the dark thoughts her classmates have about her. Ever knows she weighs over three hundred pounds, knows she’ll probably never be loved, and Skinny makes sure she never forgets it.

But there is another voice: Ever’s singing voice, which is beautiful but has been silenced by Skinny. Partly in the hopes of trying out for the school musical—and partly to try and save her own life—Ever decides to undergo a risky surgery that may help her lose weight and start over.

With the support of her best friend, Ever begins the uphill battle toward change. But demons, she finds, are not so easy to shake, not even as she sheds pounds. Because Skinny is still around. And Ever will have to confront that voice before she can truly find her own.

I'm still on the fence with my feelings on cosmetic surgery for teenagers.  While I don't feel that gastric bypass is really all that “cosmetic,” I'm just not sure how I feel about that.  Aside from that little point,  this book was fabulous.  Anyone who has trouble with self-esteem or ever doubted themselves on a regular basis will hear Skinny's dialogue with Ever and tell Donna Cooner to get out of their head.  At least I know that happened with me.

Ever is overweight and dealing with high school, a place that is not so kind for those who are different than others.  A place where Ever felt almost entirely alone with the exception of her best friend, Rat.  A place that if you are different, you have to build up a stone wall around your feelings in hopes of not being devastated every day.  I felt bad for Ever, because I know how cruel teenagers can be.  While I was never on the receiving end of the dirty looks and nasty jokes, I know that they are there and that they hurt.  I know that Ever had to struggle through that every day.  Like I said before, she did build up some defenses, but she never did anything for herself until she decided to go through with gastric bypass surgery.  We go through Ever's surgery experience, recovery and life afterward.  We see her relationships change with friends, others who might or might not be a friend and with her family.  Really, Ever grows as a person in this book and the story is beautiful and sad and infuriating; it's life.

This is a story about change, hope, learning who we are on the inside and battling that pesky little voice in our heads that tells us we can't.  Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down and am still thinking about it days after finishing.  Pick this book up if you are a fan of realistic, contemporary YA.

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