A Blind Spot for Boys by Justina Chen

Sixteen-year-old Shana Wilde is left to pick up the pieces after Dom, a handsome college boy, shatters her heart. Instead of mourning her loss and moving on, she decides to "do unto others as has been done unto her." She becomes a jaded serial dater, showing no mercy with a trail of broken hearts left in her wake. She's perfected the game until a chance encounter brings her face-to-face with Quattro, an enigmatic lacrosse player whose attraction is unsettling. Just as she begins to rethink her boy moratorium, her family is dealt a blow: Shana's father is going blind.

With the loss of her father's vision, Shana's family finally decides to go on their dream vacation since it will be their last chance. The first leg of the trip includes hiking Machu Picchu where Shana runs into none other that Quattro. Unfortunately, as Shana begins to lower her walls, Quattro seems to reinforce his by pushing her away. As the trek up the mountain intensifies, and mudslides threaten to take lives, Shana learns that loss is inevitable; however, little stolen moments are worth the pain.

One reviewer criticized this novel as being cliche and lacking depth of plot. Maybe. At the same time, Shana symbolizes the emotions and fears that many adolescent young women feel after a particularly traumatic breakup. Any time someone makes herself vulnerable to another, it's extremely scary that rejection might be looming. As a result, this novel is a rite of passage for Shana, but it's also a rite of passage for many of the other characters: 

Quattro: He must come to terms with his mother's death.

Shana's Dad: He must come to terms with going blind in 90 days.

Grace: She must grieve the loss of her husband and learn to live again.

Helen: She must reevaluate the love of a man who saves himself and leaves her to die.

This novel incorporates sarcasm and humor to address the age-old conflict of love and trust. Although Shana and Quattro are the focus, secondary characters show the multifaceted nature of love as well as obstacles that make us second-guess ourselves. 

     

The Diviners by Libba Bray

It's 1926, and seventeen-year-old Evie O'Neill has been sent to stay with her stuffy, old Uncle Will in New York City after a parlor trick goes awry. Determined to make a name for herself, she maneuvers her way into the nightlife wrought with speakeasies, chorus girls, and underground parties. She quickly learns that New York City is the perfect place for a small-town girl like her to reinvent herself. The only problem is that New York City is also the perfect place for evil to prey on innocent victims. Pretty soon, as bodies start piling up, Evie's "parlor trick" becomes the only thing that can stop a serial killer.

Bray's masterful portrayal of Prohibition Era Manhattan pulls the reader into a world of flappers, speakeasies, and propaganda. The novel is full of murder and suspense that plays off of the supernatural and occult. As multiple subplots collide, readers gets introduced to unique urban legends and historical information.

Bray effectively uses New York City and the Harlem Renaissance as backdrops that address larger social issues facing America during the 1920's: racism, religious fervor, decadence of youth, police corruption, aftermath of WWI, and feminism. Through characters such as Theta Knight, Mabel Rose, Sam Lloyd, Memphis Campbell, Henry DuBois, and Jericho, social issues come to life and humanize struggles people faced. Unfortunately, with so many characters and so many subplots, it takes a long time to set up each context. There were times that remembering information about each character and plot was challenging. So much build-up (and flipping back-and-forth between stories) runs the risk of readers losing interest. Sometimes less is more.  

The Whole Stupid Way We Are by N. Griffin

Dinah and Skint are best friends. Dinah is flighty while Skint is moody. Dinah worries about the beauty of things while Skint worries about Monks being tortured in Burma and people starving to death. While Dinah is worried about matching her stripy skirts and leggings, Skint refuses to wear a coat in the Maine winter as a form of self-punishment for having luxuries while others suffer. Dinah has two loving parents who adore her while Skint’s father suffers from dementia, and it’s ripping his family apart. All Dinah wants to do is help Skint. All Skint wants is for Dinah to mind her own business.

The basic premise of this novel is unique. I like the idea that it’s not enough to care about injustices; we need to DO something about them. If we aren’t part of the solution, we are inadvertently a part of the problem. I don’t think enough YA communicates this important message.

The plot is slow-moving and boring. Part of this is due to the disjointed sub-plots that are never developed as well as the shallowness of the characters (all of them). The voice of each character is unique; however, it isn't believable. For instance, there are times that Dinah speaks like a woman from the Victorian era instead of a fifteen-year-old from 2012. To offset this, Skint curses a lot, which seems a bit overused. I know that the author uses this technique to convey emotion, but most of the scenes are flat, so it isn't very authentic.

The scenes are repetitive, poorly developed, and monotonous. Nothing interesting happens until 80 pages before the end of the book (the novel is 349 pages). By then, the reader has lost interest. In fact, I had to force myself to finish it. As a result, I would not suggest this novel to any of my students.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah are Raven Boys, boys who attend the exclusive Aglionby Prep School, on a quest. Blue Sargent is the daughter of a psychic who’s made it a policy to stay away from pretentious Aglionby boys…that it, until she foresees Gansey’s tragic death. What’s worse is that she knows she’s the cause.

When fate ensures that their paths cross, Blue decides to help these Raven Boys pursue the Legend of Glendower, the legend that promises a single wish to whoever wakes the king from his centuries of slumber. The closer that they get to finding the king, the more they realize that the legend is real and they aren’t the only ones looking. A sacrifice has to be made to wake up the ley lines to continue the quest, and certain people have no qualms about spilling innocent blood.

No novel should ever take 300 pages to get interesting. Ever. This novel moved so slowly that I had to make myself continue reading with the hope that the climax would be worth it. It wasn’t.  Granted, there were a few creepy parts (i.e., murder and paranormal activity), but not enough to sustain the droning plot.

Another aspect of this novel that was left wanting was the legend. To me, the legend is the life of this story, and it needed to be developed more so that it was more interesting. So, people find a sleeping Welsh, wake him up, and get a wish. Um, so what? Where’s the detailed folklore? Was this king evil or good? Are there warnings and consequences once a wish is granted? What happens once he wakes up? Does he go back to sleep again after a certain time or does he become immortal? These are things that needed to be developed in book 1 because it is the foundation of the series. The details were so sparse and superficial that I didn’t buy into it.

There was very little suspense throughout this novel despite the potential for some seriously scary scenes. Part of this was because many of the scenes were repetitive and underdeveloped. As a result, the characters were shallow and boring. Any attempt at suspense fell flat because instead of letting the reader connect the dots on her own, the author felt as though she had to spell everything out for her (this involves spoilers, so I won’t give specifics here). Then, there were other times that the author drew the reader’s attention to a subtle nuance, only to leave it hanging (Ashley’s interest in Glendower, Neeve’s witchcraft, Ronan’s secret).

All-in-all, I was bored with this book, and I won’t read the others in the series. I really loved the premise; I just wish that the execution had been more effective. 

ARC courtesy of ALA 2012
Publication: September 2012

Tilt by Ellen Hopkins

MiKayla, Shane, and Harley come from homes that are broken – either physically or emotionally. Each one has watched the breakdown of their parents’ love and feels the void that it creates. It’s this void that propels each one of them into relationships in search of the love that they don’t feel at home.

Hopkins does a great job of portraying different facets of relationships through each character. She shows the innocent intensity of first loves, the dangers of placing our trust and lives in the hands of those who might not deserve it, and the importance of staying true to ourselves. Each character develops an obstacle based on choices they made that he or she must overcome. As they work through their options and face the cruel judgments of others, they realize that redemption and hope still exist.

ARC received at ALA 2012

Publication Date: September 2012

**Companion to Triangles

PS Thanks for sneaking Karin and I a copy, Ellen!