Summer of Supernovas

SUMMER OF SUPERNOVAS was just as charming as you might expect about a headstrong young woman, Wilamena (Wil) Carlisle, who plots her future according to her astrological chart. Believing this summer to be her last shot at finding true love until the next time the stars align in nearly a decade, Wil is determined to find her one true love. Naturally, just as Wil decides she's meant to find true love, she stumbles across two boys: one who's perfect on paper, the other who makes her heart sing, but is totally, fatally wrong for her according to their astrological signs. As Wil tries to navigate a tricky tangle of relationships, hilarity and heartbreak ensue.

I adored Wil: she was complex, funny, strong, sweet, and loyal. I would have gladly followed Wil through just about any story--it was just my good luck that hers happened to be an epic romance. But for all that the romance had my heart pounding and twisting in a painfully good way, the core of the story was about much more than that. This was a story about friendship and family and finding yourself even as you fall more deeply in love with the ones around you.

Not in the Script

Amy Finnegan's debut, Not in the Script, is adorable--exactly the kind of YA contemporary romance that I like reading.

Emma Taylor is an actress who unexpectedly shot to success at age 12. Now, at eighteen, a seasoned veteran of Hollywood, she's just signed on to do a TV series--with none other than her long-time Hollywood crush, Brett. But she has a history of falling for guys who turn out to be jerks, so she's determined to avoid any romantic entanglements on set.

Jake Elliot is a reluctant model who took on high-paying gigs to pay for his mom's treatment after her stroke. He's new to acting, but willing to put in his time for the paycheck--and intrigued by Emma Taylor, who proves to be much deeper than he'd expect from your average Hollywood starlet. He also happens to be Emma's best friend's celebrity crush, a little detail that puts a definite cramp in his plans to get to know Emma better.

I thought the book was a fun insider look at a Hollywood set (Finnegan's brother has worked on several such sets, and Finnegan visited several while writing the book). But really, what Finnegan excels at is the slow-burning romance between Emma and Jake. The two are both so likeable--and human--that it's hard not to root for them, despite all the obstacles to their relationship. More than that, the book is clean--I wouldn't hesitate to hand it to any teen (or even pre-teen) that I know.

As a side-note: I met Amy at a recent writer's conference, and she is just as adorable in person as her characters. But as she shared the story about how Not in the Script came to be, I liked the story even more: this wasn't an overnight success. Amy worked on the story for several years before snagging an agent and interested editor.

I love it when authors *and* their characters get the happy endings they deserve!

To All The Boys I've Loved Before

 I picked up Jenny Han's To All The Boys I've Loved Before a few weeks back at the library. I tried starting it and couldn't quite get into it. I decided to try one last time, and I'm so glad I did.

Lara Jean is one of the Song girls, defined primarily by her place as the middle sister in a close family. But when her older sister goes off to college in Scotland, and someone accidentally mails all the unsent love letters she's written to boys (in an effort to get over them), Lara Jean's life starts to change. Already off balance by her sister leaving, Lara Jean is horrified to find that her sister's ex-boyfriend (and their next boyfriend) has received the letter detailing all the things she loves about him. To save face, she convinces her childhood friend Peter (another letter recipient) to pretend to be her boyfriend long enough to convince her sister's ex that she's over him. If it sounds complicated, it is, a little, but that's not really what the story was about.

Even if the title is dedicated to Lara Jean's loves, I think the story is much more a love-letter to sisters. I think Han perfectly captures the sister-dynamic: the way you can both love someone and be cruel to them at the same time, the way your sister can be the closest person in the world and also drive you insane. I loved that Lara Jean's family felt real, and that her father was present and involved and a little goofy.

Some reviewers have bagged on the book for being slow, or for Lara Jean's voice being too young. I don't expect a particularly fast pace in a character-driven novel, and I thought Han's voice here was lovely. Not all teenagers are particularly mature or edgy, and Lara Jean *was* immature (i.e., inexperienced) when it comes to boys. I don't think there's anything wrong with that--in fact, I think a diversity of YA experiences *should* be documented.

I would have liked more resolution in the ending, and I didn't always love Lara Jean's love interest, but I did love the book. Cute, sweet, and real.

Isla and the Happily Ever After

 Stephanie Perkins does the intensity of teen romance better than most authors I can think of. I loved Anna and the French Kiss and was looking forward to reading this one. And while Isla and the Happily Ever After wasn't my favorite of Perkins' three books, there were things I liked about it.

Perkins has a gift for transporting readers to new places: here, she revisits Paris, but also gorgeously conveys parts of Spain, and even New York. I found myself longing to revisit (and visit) some of the places after reading her descriptions.

And I liked Isla, though other reviewers haven't, because to me, feeling like a "blank slate" and not knowing what you want to do with your life feels true to being a teenager. Not everyone knows who they are or where they are going.

Where the novel failed me a little was in the romance.  Not that there aren't a lot of heated kisses (and more) here. Rather, I was a little disappointed to start with Isla already pining for Josh, because part of what I love about romances is seeing how the characters fall for each other. And it wasn't clear to me why she adored Josh--though it was clear that she did. While it was fun to watch her shock as Josh started to reciprocate, it wasn't quite the same. (And yes, I know this is personal preference and not the fault of the author!)

What really frustrated me, though, was that after establishing this intense romance, the characters sort of self-destructed. Their separation, though sad, seemed self-inflicted. And Isla's insecurities and the way she torpedoes her own relationship just didn't make sense to me. I hadn't seen any sign of those insecurities until suddenly they manifested, so it was hard for me to buy her motivations. I know that a romance has to have some kind of block or there's no point to writing about it, but the obstacles here were a little too much--especially given everything Isla and Josh *did* have going for them.

The Geography of You and Me

 I adored Jennifer Smith's The Statistical Probability at First Sight. So maybe I can blame that book for not loving this book as much as I wanted to. I keep picking up her books hoping to reclaim that magic--and though this was sweet and quiet it didn't have quite the same zing between the characters, maybe because they spend so much of the novel apart.

Lucy and Owen live very different lives, despite living in the same apartment building in New York. Owen, the building caretaker's son, lives in a small basement apartment and is still reeling from the death of his mother and his recent move to NYC from small-town Pennsylvania. Lucy lives half-way up the building, with a view, and parents who are rarely around as they are too busy jet-setting around the world. But one fateful day (the infamous NYC blackout), they happen to both be on the elevator when the power goes out. Once they get rescued, they find themselves drawn to each other and spend the evening wandering the dark streets of the city, marveling at the stars, and then the night on the roof of their building talking.

But then life intervenes and they find themselves heading in opposite directions--Owen, out West, and Lucy to Scotland and then London. Still, they hold onto some of the magic from that night by sending each other postcards from their different destinations.

I don't mind quiet novels, and I genuinely liked both characters. But despite the romance of the different places they inhabit (London, Edinburgh, Paris, Rome, San Francisco, Lake Tahoe), there wasn't quite enough romance here--they spend a lot of time yearning for each other without really knowing much about each other. And while I thought the novel was beautifully written, sometimes their parallel chapters seemed too much like a gimmick and not enough like realistic development.

So--a good book, just not a great one.