teen fiction

Great Retelling of an Austen Classic

So it’s sort of impossible to be a fan of romance in stories and not appreciate Jane Austen. Even if you wouldn’t choose to sit down and spend the day reading one of her classic stories, you still have to recognize them for what they are – iconic romances that inspire story after story even today.

Claire LaZebnik’s latest, The Trouble With Flirting, is a clever take on Austen’s Mansfield Park. In it, Franny is a student working a prestigious summer theater program in a humbling role: assistant to the costume designer (who just happens to be her very serious and tediously boring aunt). To say the least, Franny’s not thinking it’ll be a really exciting summer… until the theater participants arrive. One of the students there is a guy Franny’s had a crush on for years, and she starts spending as much time as she can with him and a new group of friends. Of course, she tries to get his attention by flirting with a guy who’s showing some interest in her, and that’s where the trouble with flirting really begins.
I’m a fan of Franny in this. She’s spunky and smart and she stands her ground in most situations. And, even though she’s stuck being the costume designer’s assistant, she’s not sulking around and being miserable… she’s out there having fun, making the best of it, getting the guys. She’s someone I would have waned to hang out with in high school.
Check out The Trouble With Flirting! Hope you enjoy. :)

Ender’s Game

I know, it’s sad that I hadn’t read Ender’s Game before now. And honestly, I don’t even know why it took so long… I thought it would be more of a younger middle school and upper elementary story, but I was very wrong. 

Ender’s Game has everything in it that made me love The Giver. First of all, there’s a futuristic, thoroughly screwed up society. It needs fixing and saving. And Ender, like The Giver’s Jonas, is the one who is called upon to save it. 
The action and language are more intense than The Giver, but never in an inappropriate way. It’s tense, and the resolution is unexpected – though I figured out most of what was happening before it was officially revealed to Ender and the reader. It was a fun bit of speculation and dramatic irony for a little while. 
Having really enjoyed this book, I have to say that I’m very much looking forward to the movie coming out soon. From the descriptions of everything in the book, I’m thinking it’ll definitely be one to go see in the theater. I’m not sure that I’ll read any of the sequels to Ender’s Game, though. I’m kind of happy with where it ended. 
I definitely recommend this book to middle school and up – and there’s a lot here for adults, too. As always, read the book before you see the movie!

Jennifer Echols

Here’s a great summer reads author for you guys: Jennifer Echols! 
Echols’ books are romantic dramas with a sense of humor – she’s so good at writing a developing romantic relationship between two characters that you’ll feel like you’re there with them. The three pictured here, Forget You, Going Too Far, and Love Story, were the first books I read this summer… and I went through them all in about three days.
For content reasons, I’d recommend these to teens in their upper high school through college years. I’m pretty conservative with my recommendations, I know, but that’s just me. Overall, the stories here are engaging and I loved watching each romance spark and ignite. 
Echols has a new title, Dirty Little Secret, coming out in July. I’m looking forward to it!
Enjoy. :)

Dessen’s Latest… Not Her Best.

I’ll start by saying that I’m generally a fan of Dessen’s, and several over her titles have made their way to my Goodreads “favorites” shelf. See my previous write up for The Truth About Forever.

One thing I love about many of her books is the summery beachiness and good, clean, fun teenage romance. Many of her books take place in a fictional (though clearly Carolina) beach town called Colby. Seeing so many of the characters and stores and landmarks show up again and again is cool, but there were so many references to Colby residents from previous books that I feel like I need a Colby directory because I couldn’t remember everything.

I didn’t feel like The Moon and More was full of her best characters, either. I found Theo completely unlikable and thus super annoying, which hindered my ability to connect with Emaline when she didn’t agree. I did really enjoy the family relationships between Emaline and her mom, sisters, and Benji, but then I wanted to throw something at her over Luke (who I really did like, because who doesn’t like a shirtless beach house pool boy?). 

I mean, it was good as Dessen always is, but not my favorite of hers by a long shot.

Colleen Hoover, I’m a FAN.

Words really can’t express how much I love these books. And the fact that I don’t have a copy of the third and final related book, This Girl, right now is just killing me.

I’ll confess that I’ve loved the whole idea of performance poetry ever since Mike Meyers’ role in So I Married An Axe Murderer. I don’t know if Colleen ever imagined her beautifully written books being written about in the same blog post as the cheesy Meyers’ role, but I’m going for it.

Anyway, performance poetry is just COOL in a way that I feel like I’ll never be cool enough to perform it. And it’s powerful. To listen to and watch someone perform a poem is a really wonderfully moving experience.

So, when I read the little synopsis for Slammed and realized it involved slam poetry AND an incredibly hot, magnetic romance, I absolutely had to read it. And then I absolutely had to read Point of Retreat. And now I absolutely have to read This Girl, which just came out recently.

You totally don’t have to be an existing fan of slam poetry to read these books, but I do think you’ll gain an appreciation of its power to convey emotion and deliver a message emphatically through the poems that are artfully woven throughout the books. And it’ll probably make you want to find a slam poetry night in your city and go watch. I know I do.

But enough about the poetry – Hoover’s characters and the way they interact with each other are great. The instant connection and ensuing romance between Will and Layken is SO ADDICTING. The life situations they find themselves in, together with the other characters, make you root for them. They’re so right together, even though they go through more crap than any couple should have to endure.

I highly, highly, highly recommend these books (definitely upper high school and older). I love them. You should too.

Enjoy!

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Here’s my confession: I have a HUGE crush on this book. In fact, I’ll tell you what happy looks like – my face when I’m reading Jennifer E. Smith’s sweet, funny, and cleverly written exchanges between Graham Larkin and Ellie O’Neill.
In this story, a simple mistake in typing an e-mail address leads to a correspondence between two teenagers from opposite sides of the country. The teenagers don’t know much of anything about each other, and yet it’s that anonymity through e-mail with a stranger that allows them to open up to each other about things they’d never tell anyone they actually knew. What results is a conversation of thoughts and feelings in the moment – things they can’t say out loud but can say to each other. This ranges from seemingly insignificant observations about the annoyingness of smiley faces used in e-mails (J) to the soul-searching question of what happiness looks like.
Each still holds an important secret, though.
Graham Larkin is a teen heartthrob movie star, trapped in a world of paparazzi and feeling like nobody really wants to be around him for him, but only for his looks and his fame. In his correspondence with Ellie, he gets to be himself and get to know her without the trappings of fame. He’s just a witty, smart, normal guy who’s falling for a girl he’s never met.
Ellie O’Neill is a seemingly typical small town girl, but she and her mom have changed their names to keep a scandalous past hidden. Ellie is the only child of a single mom, and life gets lonely even with her friends to keep her company. This anonymous pen pal deal is exactly what she needs – a guy she can be honest with and dream about.
Only, what if it doesn’t have to be a dream anymore? When Ellie lets her town’s name slip, Graham starts pulling strings and gets the location for his next movie shoot changed… to Ellie’s small coastal town. Sounds like every girl’s dream – what teenage girl doesn’t want the teen magazine centerfold showing up on her doorstep, ready to sweep her off her feet? For Ellie, though, Graham’s fame and constant media attention complicate and change everything.
Watching these two characters navigate the challenges they each face as they explore the possibilities the future holds is great summer fun. The characters are great to spend some time with, the writing is full of smart romance and beautiful description, and the story holds enough excitement to keep us all daydreaming about our teenaged selves opening the door to find our adolescent celebrity man-crush there, declaring his love for us. All in all, I highly recommend you check out This Is What Happy Looks Like… and soon!

If Only The App Could Be Real…

So last night I stayed up really late and read The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise. I probably should have slept some more considering the fact that I had to teach today, but an intriguing premise, quirky protagonist, and swoon-worthy boy had me hooked. There was no chance I was going to sleep until I finished.

In The Boyfriend App, protagonist Audrey McCarthy is a former popular girl who’s now all techie and geeky in a way that makes you root for her to gain her self-confidence back. She’s also getting bullied by her old popular best friend, trying to figure out a way to pay for college, and still mourning the death of her father, all of which further make you want to see her succeed.

So when an app building contest is announced, with the winner receiving a $200,000 scholarship to a college of their choice as a prize, Audrey is ALL over it. She’s a super talented hacker and code-writer, and comes up with the perfect idea: an app that helps you find a match and alerts you when you’re around them. It’s cool. It takes off quickly and gets her in the running for the scholarship… until it backfires. After an accident that leads to her discovering a huge secret contained within the buyPhones sold to teenagers, she works furiously to release The Boyfriend App 2.0, which is successful. Too successful.

And, of course, all along her friendship with the techno-hottie Aidan is turning into a real, satisfying romance that adds the sweet in with the suspense of what’s going to happen with the contest, the app, and the secret Audrey accidentally uncovers during her app research. (I also must mention that Aidan’s nickname for Audrey – “Auds” – was so cute I could hardly contain myself every single time I read it.)

As I read, I was definitely captivated by the storyline, which was actually pretty exciting. I will state up front that I had a few problems with the book. One, the whole buyPhone thing is clearly actually as iPhone. I have a strange irritation with things that aren’t just outright NAMED what they obviously ARE. As Public ends up being painted in a negative light, I understand why they wouldn’t just call it Apple in the book, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying every time I have to read “buyPhone” and all the other “buy” things. Also, as much as every girl would like the power to make guys instantly desire her and kiss her, that doesn’t really make it morally correct. So that was an issue for me… though still enjoyable. Weird.

Overall, this was fun and unusual and intriguing. I recommend it (high school and up). Enjoy!

Anna and the French Kiss deleted chapter? HECK YES!!!

Seriously, words cannot describe how much I loved this book… Or how much it made me want to move to Paris.

Just this week, author Stephanie Perkins released a deleted chapter from the book on her website. It’s every bit as adorable as the rest of the book. Also, check out my previous review of Anna and the French Kiss. Enjoy!

the perks of being a wallflower

After being told by many people that I needed to read Perks, I finally did. And WHY did I need to read this? Bleh.

First of all, maybe a few master authors could tackle the topics of drugs, drinking, child abuse, molestation, rape, homosexuality, and more in relation to teenagers in just 200 pages, but this author is not one of them. And why would this book be promoted by MTV? Just because it addresses “forbidden” topics? It doesn’t address them well. Not at all. I have serious issues with this book. AND WHY WAS THIS TURNED INTO A MOVIE? Bleh.

Frustration.

Burning Blue by Paul Griffin

I don’t even know what to say about this, but it was definitely a good mystery with an ending I could never have imagined. Burning Blue is definitely for older YA readers – mature 10th/11th grade and up. Once I got to the answer of the “Who did it?” question, it was hard to make myself keep reading. You’ll understand after reading. I also appreciate the author’s note in the back, in which Griffin explains his reason for writing this story so I don’t just have to think he’s a messed up human being. Maybe I’ll have more to say later… For now, I’m still in shock.