Bookishly Ever After

Isabel Bandiera's debut, BOOKISHLY EVER AFTER, is the kind of book I wish I could have read as a bookish, nerdy teenage girl who knew more about book boyfriends than the real kind.

Phoebe Martin is perfectly happy with her life, working at a knitting store, hanging out with her best friends, and reading as many books as she can fit into her life. She finds book boys more appealing than real-life ones (aside from the unattainable boy she crushes on from afar). That is, until her best friends presents one of her friends as a real-life option, and when Phoebe finally notices Dev "that way," she starts to flounder. Not knowing how to handle a real crush, she turns to her beloved books for advice--with funny, and charming, consequences.

This book was sweet--Phoebe was adorable and genuine, and I thought the portrayal of a crush (and the often terribly awkward ways they unfold) was one of the most realistic I've read in some time. For a fun, sweet, clean YA read, this one is just about perfect. 

The Girl from Everywhere

If you don't follow Heidi Heilig on twitter (@heidiheilig), you should. Not only is she funny and smart, but she posts the most amazing book-inspired fashions for all the 2016 debut authors.

I wasn't at all surprised to find that Heidi's debut, THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE, is as delightful and detail-conscious as she is. Sixteen-year-old Nix was born in 1868 Hawaii, but she hails from, well, everywhere. Her father is a Navigator, able to travel across time in his ship, so long as he has an accurate map of his destination. His current obsession is returning to 1868 Hawaii, to save Nix's mom before she dies giving birth to Nix. But much as Nix has loved traveling with her father, much as she likes the idea of meeting her mother, this is one destination she wants to avoid at all costs: if her father succeeds, it might wipe out Nix's very existence.

While much of the book deals with Nix's wrestle with her father's obsession, there's so much more. When they arrive in 1884 Hawaii in search of the much-sought-after map, she meets a range of new characters who challenge her in new ways, and she falls in love with the island that might be the closest thing she has to home.

The characters in Heilig's debut are charming, from strong-willed, smart-mouthed Nix, to her friend Kashmir, a talented thief; to the more-straight laced American-Hawaiian boy she meets in 1884. But what really sold me on the story was the details: the deftness with which Heilig throws in a casual reference to the Arabian tales cheek by jowl with the sky-herring who light the lamps of the Temptation (her father's ship). The story itself is interesting, complex, and fast-paced, but it was the attention to wonderful historical details that made me fall in love with this story. 

Atlantia

I really enjoyed Ally Condie's latest, Atlantia, which has a quiet, restrained beauty to it. The language is spare but lovely, and the plot is quiet but moving. Readers who come to this expecting something fast paced--or about mermaids--are likely to be disappointed, but I thought it was well done.

Rio Conwys is a twin, and she has spent her whole life in Below knowing two things: one, that when it's her turn to choose Above or Below, she will choose the world above, and two, that she has to always conceal her siren voice. In Atlantia, the world Below is a carefully engineered underwater city to house humans who fled from the terrible pollution above. But some have remained above, to grow the crops that sustain those below. And each year, those who reach 17 can choose whether to stay Below or go Above--but only one can go from each family. So when Rio's sister Bay chooses to go above, trapping her below to deal with Bay's loss while still grieving the recent death or their mother, Rio doesn't know what to think or do.

Much of the early part of the novel is spent with Rio trying to find her new place in the city and to find a way to reach Bay in the world Above. She tries racing for money, and meets True, a warm-hearted boy who constructs clever machines to attract more viewers (and money) in her races. At the same time, Rio tries to avoid her aunt, a siren who may or may not have been responsible for her mother's death. But the more Rio  learns about the politics of Above and Below, the more she begins to question what she's always known, and what her true role is.

I think what I liked most about this book is that, in it's heart, it's not about the romance, but about the relationship between sisters: between Rio and Bay and between her aunt and her mother. And I liked that the slower pace allowed it to be more character driven--the readers see Rio coming into her true voice in more ways than one. There were some things about the world-building I would have liked to understand better, but ultimately, I thought it was lovely.

Cinder and Ella

 I read Kelly Oram's Cinder and Ella purely for fun, in about two days. It was a quick read and a lot of fun, but after reading I have a few hesitations about the story.

Ella (short for Ellamara, for the heroine of a fictional fantasy series that plays a big role in the novel) has a great relationship with Cinder, a playboy with some connection to Hollywood entertainment industry--but their relationship is purely online. They've never met.

When Ella is horribly injured in a car wreck that kills her mother, she spends eight months recovering before being sent to LA to live with the father who abandoned her, his new wife, and twin step-daughters. Of course by this point, Cinder is pretty sure she's dead, and no one in her father's family is excited to have her. In fact, the step-sisters make her life a living hell at the snotty new prep school she goes to.

But then she reaches out to Cinder and they reestablish their friendship. Unbeknownst to her, Cinder is really actor Brian Oliver, who's been cast to play Cinder in the new theatrical release of the book that made them friends in the first place. Cinder wants to meet her--but things are complicated by a truly witchy girlfriend, who threatens Cinder, his father, and most of all Ella if he doesn't maintain their relationship.

My favorite part was probably Ella's evolving relationship with her father and step-sisters (I actually cried at one point). And I liked that the family issues and Ella's struggle to accept her newly-scarred body added some gravitas to the book--but ultimately, there were some issues I had a hard time accepting.

First, I didn't love Cinder. By the end, his support of Ella made me like him more, but at the beginning, he comes across as a pretty convincing jerk. The love triangle that's introduced felt a little unrealistic--I liked that a nice guy gave Ella confidence, but his open acceptance of her love for someone else felt a little too much. And the conclusion seemed just a little too pat. I also struggled a little with the fact that, while Ella had all these horrible scars, her face was still undamaged and she was clearly very pretty. I would have loved to see Cinder (and everyone else) love a girl whose face was also scarred.

I will say, though, that none of these hesitations kept me from whizzing through the book.

I'm not sure how to categorize this genre-wise. I've seen some NA, since Cinder is 22, but since most of the characters (including Ella) are in high school, it also works as YA.

Signed, Skye Harper

 There are lots of things I loved about Carol Lynch Williams' newest YA novel, Signed, Skye Harper, starting with the voice of the fifteen-year-old protagonist, Winston (a girl, by the way), who loves swimming and a boy  named Steve and her grandmother and trashy Harlequin romances (with titles that made me laugh).

She felt realistic to me as someone still trying to figure out her place in the world--and because of the way the YA/MG division works out, it doesn't feel like we have enough characters in that weird in-between stage. Winston fills this beautifully.

The story, set in the 1970s, begins with a bombshell--a letter from Winston's Mama (who goes by the stage name Skye Harper), who wants Winston and her Nanny to come get her in Las Vegas. The problem: they live in Florida and don't have the money for a cross country trip. But then Nanny gets the wild idea to steal an old friend (and boss)'s brand new motor home, and they set off, oblivious to the stowaway on board (Steve, who coincidentally happens to be Winston's local crush).

I liked Winston's relationship with her Nanny and found her conflicted feelings towards her  mother (who abandoned her at four) to be utterly believable. The plot itself is pretty thin--aside from the basic premise, a lot of the action is more emotional than plot-driven. I didn't mind so much, because I enjoyed Winston's point of view, and the short chapters kept things moving.

Things I didn't love: I'm still not sure about the ending, and I didn't love Steve. I had a hard time buying his appeal--I wasn't ever convinced that his affection for Winston was more than physical attraction (here's a fifteen-year-old boy who's had three serious girlfriends, appears to be somewhat experienced sexually, and is smoking marijuana the first time we meet him). I guess I wanted someone with a little more sweetness and naivety to match Winston's inexperience.

Untold

 Sarah Rees Brennan is a master at moody atmosphere and tense relationships. Untold is the second of her Lynburn series. In the first book, Kami discovers that the voice she's always heard in her head is not, in fact, imaginary, but belongs to a very real boy. One of the long-lost Lynburns, in fact, the almost-noble family that used to rule her small town. When the Lynburns return, they set the whole village of Sorry-in-the-Vale on its ears, including Kami, who, still reeling from her discovery about Jared, finds that the family are actually sorcerers who ruled through blood sacrifice, and someone wants to reinstate their rule.

In this book (spoiler alert!), Kami and her friends are trying to figure out how to face the dark sorcerer who has split the Lynburn family and divided the town. Kami has severed her bond with Jared, and she thinks he hates her (though its clear to the reader that this is not, in fact, the case). In fact, not much happens for the middle half of the book other than Kami and Jared trying to figure out their relationship.

I didn't mind. I found the story compelling--though as I read through it with a writer's eye I noticed that, after some initial plot fireworks in the first two chapters, months pass before the final, high-stakes confrontation. There's lots of down time, but it doesn't feel like that because Rees is so good at relationship tension. I kept reading to find out what would happen between two characters I'd come to love, and then kept reading because their world imploded. The ending is wrenching and devastating and I'm almost afraid to read book three, after seeing Rees retweet (with, it must be noted, considerable glee), readers' devastated reactions.

Paris Cravings

Paris Cravings, by Kimberley Montpetit (aka award-winning children's author Kimberley Griffiths Little), is the perfect kind of summer reading. It reminded me  of Anna and the French Kiss, without all the relationship drama.

Chloe Dillard has enjoyed every moment of her ten-day Paris student trip--the pastries, the sights, and not least, the absence of her pressuring boyfriend. She loves Matthew, but after the Worst Night of Her Life (a mystery that only gradually comes clear in the story), everything seems complicated. Paris is the perfect escape.

But when a last-minute pastry run leads to an injury--and getting left behind by her tour group, Chloe has to rely on the kindness of the pastry shop owner, and the owner's dreamy son, to help her not only survive her last 48 hours in Paris, but thrive. As she learns how to make pastries and tours the city with Jean-Paul, Chloe finds herself rethinking most of what she thought she knew about her life.

The story was charming: Chloe herself is adorable and if Jean-Paul seems a teeny bit too good to be true, I'm not complaining. I was on occasion frustrated with Chloe's inability to see the problems with her boyfriend that seemed only too clear to an adult reader, but I think this is true to life for Chloe's age. I liked, too, that the book didn't end quite as I expected.

A great read for those who like their romances fun, frothy, and clean.