Month: October 2016

‘No Virgin’ – Anne Cassidy

No Virgin

Anne Cassidy has written some fabulous novels for Young Adult readers, and isn’t shy of tackling gritty subjects. Touted as perfect for fans of Louise O’Neill’s ‘Asking For It’ this book explores what happens when Stacey Woods is raped.

Stacey is the victim of a terrible attack, and the novel opens with her telling us that her best friend, Patrice, is the only one she can talk to about what has happened. With Patrice’s encouragement Stacey writes down what has happened to her, as she takes the first step in coming to terms with the experience.

Although there is never any question of Stacey being anything other than a victim, Stacey clearly holds herself responsible for what happened to her. Initially this is what I think makes her come across as somewhat unsympathetic as she gives us a lot of detail that makes her seem quite unpleasant, though her circumstances warrant our sympathy.

In Stacey’s account we are given a rather laborious back-story as she attempts to explain the circumstances that led to her attack. Though the details are not pleasant to read about, they are not gratuitous and help us to understand why Stacey reacts in the way that she does. What I found less successful was the behaviour of the characters that Stacey comes into contact with – the lack of detail given to the portrayal of these characters meant I was less convinced by the story than I feel I should have been.

I am grateful to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my review and although I don’t feel the story had quite the impact I feel it could have, I do think it will go down well with teenage readers.

‘No Virgin’ is due for publication in November 2016.

‘Miss E’ – Brian Herberger

Miss E

I received a copy of ‘Miss E’ from the author in exchange for my review, and this was one of those surprising treats that make sites such as Goodreads such a great thing.

Bets is used to moving around because her father is a soldier, so she’s got used to feeling like the new kid in town. This move to California sees Bets fitting in fairly well. She develops friendships with a number of her peers and things are going well at school. Then her father is sent to Vietnam.

Within a short space of time Bets becomes intrigued by the town’s mystery woman, Miss E. A number of happy coincidences occur which result in Bets getting to know more about this mysterious figure, and developing a friendship that is unexpected but teaches her a lot.

I’ll be honest and say this was quite a slow-moving read, but it never felt dull and would certainly make an interesting exploration of this historical period.

 

 

‘Paper Towns’ – John Green

Paper Towns

Quentin Jacobsen has spent most of his life in love with his next-door neighbour, Margo Roth Spiegelman. When she enters his room one night and asks for his help in taking revenge on her cheating boyfriend, Quentin gets caught up in an amusing – though not necessarily legal – evening of causing chaos. He takes this as the step forward in the relationship between them.

When he arrives in school he learns, along with the rest of the school community, that Margo has disappeared. Nobody knows where she has gone, but Quentin is convinced that the random clues that he stumbles across have been left for him in order to help him track down Margo.

While I found Quentin and his friends witty and entertaining, I couldn’t really see the appeal of Margo. It was the idea of Margo that Quentin had constructed that appealed to him. For me I felt there was something a little formulaic about the novel, but I know it’s going to appeal to Green fans.

‘The Square Root of Summer’ – Harriet Reuter Hapgood

The Square Root of Summer

Gottie H. Oppenheimer has felt things haven’t been the same since the death of her beloved grandfather, Grey, but when time literally starts to disappear she starts to wonder what is going on.

The explanation we are given is that wormholes have opened up and are transporting Gottie to her past. I won’t pretend to admit I understood even half of the ideas in this, but I found it was an interesting frame on which to hang the story.

I did find that I was intrigued by the love story, but I thought the focus on showing Gottie coming to terms with the loss of her grandfather was touching.

‘The Light Fantastic’ – Sarah Combs

The Light Fantastic

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for my honest thoughts and, I’ll be honest, I found it a puzzling read.

This has a contemporary setting and we start on the morning of April Donovan’s eighteenth birthday, just four days after the Boston Marathon bombing.  April has a condition that means she has perfect recall of all manner of events, so she has become fixated on the things that have gone wrong over time during her birth month.

What was clear from quite early on was that the seemingly disconnected stories that we were being given were, in actual fact, all interlinked and it was simply a case of waiting for the writer to reveal exactly how.

From April to Lincoln, Phoebe to Adrian we are shown a lot of teenagers who are all struggling with their sense of disaffection. It was clear quite early on that we would be dealing with a high-school shooting, but I did not see the twist coming.

 

‘The Creeping Shadow’ – Jonathan Stroud

The Creeping Shadow

I can’t believe that we’re onto the fourth in the series already, but I’m very pleased to see Lockwood and Co return even though their circumstances have changed a little.

Stroud quickly recaps the events of the last novel, and we can see Lucy is trying her hardest to manage without Lockwood, George and Holly. Things are not going brilliantly though, and it doesn’t take long before we get into the inevitable situation where the group have to come back together in the interests of solving a paranormal investigation.

The humour in this was to the fore, which seems an odd thing to say in a book that does have quite a gruesome element to it. This was a cracking story and I honestly cannot wait for the final part of the series.

 

‘Twenty Boy Summer’ – Sarah Ockler

Twenty Boy Summer

This was the kind of book that I would have adored as a teenager; as an adult, I found myself feeling quite wistful as I read this.

Frankie comes up with a crazy plan for the summer vacation that she is going on with her best friend Anna – they have to talk to a new boy every day in an attempt to get Anna her summer fling. Anna agrees to the plan, though she doesn’t reveal to Frankie just how painful the experience will be.

Anna has always been part of a triangle with her best friend Frankie, and Frankie’s brother, Matt. The three were always inseparable, until the night their car crashes and Matt is killed.

This kind of experience would be upsetting enough for anyone, but it happened only weeks after Matt had finally declared his love for Anna. They had a perfect few weeks and were about to reveal their shifting relationship status when the accident happened. Anna hasn’t told anyone what happened between them, so she is left to grieve alone.

If I’m being honest, this could have been a really depressing story but it wasn’t at all. There was a definite sense of waiting for the inevitable secrets to spill out, but it was fairly light-hearted fun. I enjoyed watching Anna come to terms with her feelings and learn how she might come to accept what happened to her.