In honor of my latest YA review on She Reads, here’s a cool quote graphic I found featuring Elizabeth Eulberg’s Better Off Friends. Also, Amazon has the hardcover on sale right now. Happy Tuesday, everybody!
romance
Veronica Mars – HOW DID I MISS THIS?
Somehow I missed watching ANY Veronica Mars when it actually aired on TV, and it was only after being told last week that I should watch it as research for my book (thanks, Jen) that I signed up for my 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime so I could stream it.
It only took a few minutes of the first episode to reel me in – a smart, witty, gorgeous high school girl working with her PI father to solve both major and minor crimes? Beautiful Southern California setting with clashes between the haves and have-nots? Great supporting characters, including plenty of swoony guys? Perfect. It’s like everything I’d ever want in a YA book series.
The only question now is this: will I be able to finish the series before the movie actually comes out? Let’s hope.
Better off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg – I LOVE THIS ONE.
Elizabeth Eulberg is the author of four previous contemporary YA titles, and I’ve had her on my radar since I read Revenge of the Girl With a Great Personality (a super funny and actually sweet YA behind the scenes of children’s beauty pageants and the families of the girls who compete).
Eulberg has an ability to tell a great story full of poignant, really valuable moments that also make you laugh out loud. When I saw she had a new book coming out, I knew I had to read it… especially when I saw it compared to When Harry Met Sally! I mean, come on. Who can resist that?
In Better Off Friends, we get to follow the friendship of Macallan, an eighth grade girl dealing with the still-recent death of her mom, and Levi, an eighth grade boy transplanted from California to Wisconsin. When Macallan is given the task of showing Levi around on their first day of school, she mostly just barely tolerates him until they realize they both love the same quirky British TV show. From there, Levi and Macallan become good friends over the course of the school year.
When high school hits, everybody thinks they’re dating, but they’re still just friends… best friends. The banter between the two of them, and the way they retreat into their own world throughout various situations in the book, is just nothing short of magical in quality. In addition to the alternating point of view between Levi and Macallan as they go back and tell their story, there are also snippets of their present day conversations in between chapters. Eulberg has written a couple of characters here that I would honestly want to hang out with if they were real; they are full of life and so much fun.
The book spans over about four and a half years, which seemed at first like it was moving too quickly, glossing over important things, but by the time I finished I realized the pacing had been perfect – watching Levi and Macallan basically grow up together over those years made the experience even more enjoyable.
Another great thing about Eulberg, and particularly Better Off Friends, is that she tells great stories for a range of YA audiences without profanity or glorified drinking/drug use and sexual situations. This book could be enjoyed by 7th and 8th graders looking forward to good, healthy friendships (and romance) in high school, high school students in the thick of it, college/early career readers reflecting on high school relationships, and moms hoping their kids have people like these in their lives as they navigate young adulthood.
As you can tell, I really, really loved this new title. So fun, smart, witty, and sweet!
Check it out here on Amazon or at your favorite bookseller.
In Bloom by Katie Delahanty
It seems like, in general, the New Adult genre has slipped into a pattern of beginning with a character deeply affected by some horrible tragedy who finds another character deeply affected by some horrible tragedy and they cling tightly to each other and can’t survive life without the hope of their love. Aside from a few authors keeping it fun, like Cassie Mae for example, New Adult authors are giving off this impression that adulthood has to begin with depression or something. It’s annoying.
In Bloom is a breath of fresh air for the New Adult genre. Delahanty has written characters that are realistically flawed, but who do not let the circumstances of life become these huge depressing things that dictate whether or not they survive. If you’re looking for depressing New Adult, this is not it. In Bloom felt to me like a slightly older version of Jen E. Smith’s This Is What Happy Looks Like: charming, romantic, fun, and smartly-written. Delahanty has been shaping these characters for years through her blog, and you can totally tell. They feel like real people.
I loved Olivia as a protagonist. She handles the pressures of moving to LA to pursue her dreams wonderfully, making great friends and ignoring her crazy mom along the way. She gets a fun job and breaks into the Hollywood scene, meeting the front man of her favorite band, Berkeley. She is accident prone and witty and smart, and several times throughout her story I laughed out loud at her antics.
Then there’s Berkeley. He’s sweet and romantic and down-to-earth despite the fact that he’s a world famous rock star, and his pursuit of Olivia is the cutest thing. I developed a total crush on him as I read, and I can only hope he shows up again and again and again in future Delahanty books.
Until there are more books in this series, though, there’s always twitter… The characters in the book tweet at each other at the start of each chapter, but it never occurred to me that there would be actual twitter accounts I could follow. But then I found them, and it was magical. I mean, you usually finish a book and have to say goodbye to the characters, right? Not this time, though… find them on twitter, follow them, and let them interact with you. I hope it makes your day and much as it made mine.
One more thing I loved about this – Delahanty didn’t feel the need to make it sound like a “grown up book” by having her characters cuss all the time. I appreciated that. Like I said, In Bloom is a breath of fresh air. That being said, I wasn’t a fan of the graphic nature of the love scenes. It surprised me because the language was so clean, and I was thinking I could really recommend this to teenagers and students getting out there and making life decisions, but I can’t do that now. Plus, I think the love scenes would have flowed better with the overall tone of the rest of the book if they’d been more modestly written.
In Bloom releases today! Click here to find it on Amazon.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
This book is exactly what YA novels should lead into and what the NA genre in general should strive to be. Wow.
Fangirl is the story of Cather, a twin trying to find her own way in her first year of college. Throughout the book, she deals with her dad’s health, her mom’s abandonment, her sister’s rebellion, her first love, and her obvious talent for writing. What I love about Cather, though, is that she’s not your typical book heroine. I mean, she’s strong, but it’s an understated strong. She wouldn’t consider herself strong, but she’s incredible. She knows her passion and goes for it whole-heartedly.
What I love even more than Cather and her writing talent is Levi’s adorable self. There’s something about the way he talks to Cath that is irresistible, and as much as I don’t usually go for country guys, but his sweetness and ever-present flannel are perfect.
You guys… The TFiOS trailer is gorgeous.
I. Can’t. Wait.
Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg
Ever wanted a humorous and realistic view into the heart of the beauty pageant world? This book is for you. In this, Lexli is a tired of seeing her mom waste what little money they have on pageants for her seven year old terror of a sister… that she doesn’t even want to be a part of anymore. She’s tired of seeing the guy she has a crush on go out with the wrong girl. She’s tired of not being listened to, period, and she has a plan.
While it might not seem like your typical comedy, Revenge of the Girl with a Great Personality is a smartly written story that I couldn’t put down!
Pretty Face by Mary Hogan
I admit that as a reader I can get caught up in what’s newly released, what’s coming out when, and making sure my review copies actually get reviewed. Sometimes, though, I still make time to just browse the shelves at the library or my favorite book store, which is where I find gems like Mary Hogan’s Pretty Face.
In this story, high school girl Hayley feels “oversized” for the California beach life, causing her to feel awkward and unsure of herself. She’s that girl with the pretty face that nobody wants to date. And while the cover would make you feel like it’s a book all about weight loss or weight obsession, it’s really not. It’s more about one teenage girl’s journey from horribly self-conscious to confidence.
When her parents send her off to Italy for the summer, which would of course be catastrophic to the social lives of most American teenage girls, Hayley finds a refreshing new beginning. I really liked Hayley’s journey in Italy, and as if I didn’t already want to go to Italy bad enough, it definitely made me wish I’d been sent there for a summer in high school!
This is one that’s worth reading if for no other reason than to see the setting jump off the page.
When Books Become Movies…
I’m really excited about how many of these books are YA titles, and especially excited about three of my favorite books one the big screen this year: The Giver, The Fault In Our Stars, and Divergent. Now go read them before the movies come out!
Also Known As and Going Rogue by Robin Benway
I really enjoyed Also Known As earlier in 2013, so when I saw the digital ARC for book 2 pop up on Netgalley I knew I needed to read it. Going Rogue did not disappoint! I will say, though, that if you haven’t read Also Known As, you should definitely read that one first. While Benway does take some time in Going Rogue to recap what happened previously, it’s not really enough to give you the whole feel for the first book.
Maggie is not your typical teenage girl, no matter how much she wants to be, because you just can’t have secret super spy parents and be one of the world’s best safecrackers and consider yourself normal. I appreciate her desire to have a normal life, though, and she gets it to some extent with her best friend, Roux, and her boyfriend, Jesse. It’s just that she also spends hours crammed into tiny crawlspaces in international criminals’ houses. Tiny detail.
What I like about this series is that it’s realistic in its characters, but the circumstances are fantastical. I mean, no… it’s probably not real life-like that these things happen to Maggie and her family and her friends, but their reactions to the situations feel real. That’s what I like in a book – normal people in abnormal circumstances. I like to see how real people react to stuff, and I think there’s a lot here in terms of Maggie’s family and their dedication to doing what’s right. And, side note, I’m also in love with the part of this that takes place in Paris because I want to go live there for a few years!
While the characters are high school aged, this is one I wouldn’t mind seeing in the hands of a middle schooler – fairly clean in the sex and language area. That’s refreshing.
Find both titles at your local bookstore, favorite online retailer, or here at Amazon’s Robin Benway author page.
Pimples, Popularity, and Protagonists 