Contemporary – Page 42 – My Good Reads

‘The Last Beginning’ – Lauren James

The Last Beginning

Finishing while you’re ahead is always a good idea, but this was such a wonderful read there’s a part of me that hopes there is more to come.

In The Last Beginning we follow Clove Sutcliffe as she learns about her real parents and the role they played in history. We are introduced to one or two familiar faces and get to meet some new, very intriguing, characters.

If you’ve read the first in the series you will be pleased to know this novel helps us make a lot more sense of some of the more confusing elements of the first novel. This is a deftly constructed, compelling read that had me desperate to see how things would be resolved. I loved the character of Clove and as she develops an understanding of her role in history, I couldn’t wait to see how James dealt with some of my unanswered questions. I was gripped by this from the moment I started. Time travel is a familiar concept to explore, but there’s a real sense of James’s skill in controlling what information we need to know at what point in time.

I would urge you to read The Next Together immediately if you haven’t already, then treat yourself to this little gem.

‘Pretty Little Liars’ – Sara Shephard

Pretty Little Liars

My first encounter with Emily, Spencer, Aria, Hanna, the mysterious A and a whole host of other characters came when I started watching the series on Netflix. It’s the kind of series where everyone is impossibly glamorous – I’m pretty certain that few people look like this lot at high school – but the wicked humour and clever plotting has quickly made it a firm favourite of mine. Although I’ve become an avid fan of the series, I wasn’t sure if I could face reading the sixteen novels on which the show is based.

I can only apologise, and say that I wish I hadn’t waited so long.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series we focus on what was a close-knit group of friends. They have gone their separate ways since the ‘leader’ of their group – Alison – has gone missing. Her disappearance causes ripples in the small community of Rosewood but life goes on.

Just like the TV series we are aware very early on that the key characters are all involved in something that the group want to remain hidden. Their secret has kept them tied to each other, even though they don’t seem to like each other very much at times. We become aware that each of the girls also has their own secret, which Alison knew, but none of the others were aware of. These secrets are things they don’t want anyone to know about, yet when they start receiving messages from ‘A’ we watch them unravel as they try to work out just who is watching them.

The idea of someone monitoring their every move in the way that would have to be happening here is quite creepy. Initially the girls think Alison can’t have disappeared and that she is tormenting them for her own fun. However, when her body is found in her old back-yard, it seems there’s a little more to this mystery than we first thought.

While I found the constant name-checking of brands and products rather irritating in the novel, I was interested to see how the novels differed from the show. The female characters in the book are more nuanced than we’re led to believe and I liked the fact that their roles within the group are not quite so defined. In my head as I’m reading I confess to visualising the characters from the show, even though in a number of cases they are nothing alike. The first novel ends shortly after the discovery of Alison’s body so we are left with many questions, and I really liked the device of having A directly address us at the end.

I picked this up because of a reading challenge I’m involved in which is focusing on Series reads – with sixteen to get through, I might not manage them all in one go but I’m happy to read along for a little.

‘Before Life Happened’ – Isabel Curtis

The front cover drew me to this – partly because it was so intriguing, but also because it hints at something innocent being hidden or masked in some way.

Described as a distinctive coming-of-age novel ‘Before Life Happened’ is the first in a series. The second is due out in January 2017, and I think this sets us up well for developing a story while maintaining our interest in established characters.

Hayden Wilson and her brothers are left devastated by the sudden death of their parents. Nobody is sure what to do, when they are so used to having someone guide them. The brothers are doing what they can, but Hayden is really struggling to accept what has happened.

In this story we see things go from bad to really awful for Hayden. Clearly struggling to cope with her grief over the loss of her parents, Hayden shuts herself away from those who could help. She had people looking out for her, but not in the way that meant they could make any difference.

Though the story was quite entertaining I was surprised at just how quickly Hayden gets into trouble. The events that she gets caught up in are beyond the wildest imaginings of many of us, but many of the key issues are resolved in some way. I’m not totally convinced by the conduct of some of the adult characters in the novel, but I think this will have its fans.

‘The Yellow Room’ – Jess Vallance

Having read ‘Birdy’ it came as little surprise to me that in ‘The Yellow Room’ Vallance creates another set of dysfunctional characters, who form unhealthy obsessions.

When sixteen year old Anna receives a letter from her father’s girlfriend, asking that they meet because he has died we are given some clues about the type of relationship Anna has with her family. It did strike me as strange that this issue wasn’t discussed by Anna with anyone, and that Anna received such important news from someone she had never met.

Against her better judgement Anna meets Edie, and is immediately drawn to her. Edie is the mother-figure that Anna desperately craves, and the bond they form is unnaturally close.

As the story progresses we are given some clues as to how this story might resolve. By the time we start to piece some of these ideas together it is, just as it is for Anna, too late to do anything but see them through to their natural conclusion.

Tautly written, and quite unnerving, this is a dark story that I didn’t particularly like but couldn’t put down.

‘The Serpent King’ – Jeff Zentner

Travis, Lydia and Dill live in what can best be described as a claustrophobic Southern town. Preparing to leave high school we start with the three best friends caught up in their own personal issues.

None of them have great lives, and they all seem lost.

Dill is the only son of a Pentecostal minister who has had a very public fall from grace, which Dill is taunted about on a daily basis. He is in love with his best friend, Lydia, but cannot tell her how he feels. She is determined to escape their small town with her fashion blog. Travis lives in his own fantasy world, preferring it to the reality of the world he is faced with. None of these teenagers seems comfortable in their own skin, and they don’t seem as though they’ll work together. But they do.

I found the setting hard to take initially. The extreme religious focus, and the lack of understanding many of the characters show was really hard to take.

There came a point, as we start to get under the skin of the three characters, that I started to get more intrigued. Things didn’t always take the obvious route and this was one of those books that appealed to me in ways I wasn’t expecting.

Bleak in many ways, but there was an endearing sense of hope too.

‘Doreen’ – Ilana Manaster

Doreen

A glamorous update of Wilde’s classic for The Pretty Little Liars generation.

Let’s cut to the chase – The Picture of Dorian Gray remains one of my favourite novels, so I started reading this out of curiosity more than anything else. The themes of appearance and how we portray ourselves, and the extent to which we are judged for our outward actions remain pertinent. For the modern social media-obsessed teenager, this is likely to appeal on a number of levels, but I’d still urge them to read Wilde’s book if they want to go beyond the surface of the key ideas explored.

I found the setting of the novel appropriately close and unsettling. The girls being tucked away in a well-to-do Academy provides the ideal setting for them to experiment with their identities in relative safety, yet show in detail the intricate webs that are woven to keep their social hierarchies firmly established.

Our Queen Bee in this novel – Heidi – is suitably shallow and vacuous. Her adoption of Doreen is vital to the plot – and Doreen grows into a perfect monster as she succumbs to the hedonistic pleasures that her new-found prettiness brings her.

The actual style of writing was confident, but the mix of Wildean-style prose with more modern dialogue did not sit well with me. The lack of any attempt to provide an explanation for the occurrence with the picture frustrated me, but it will definitely have enough to entertain many readers.

‘The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily’ – Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily

My first confession-I haven’t read the first in the series, so I didn’t have any emotional investment in these characters when I picked up the book. My second confession-this is a Christmas themed book but I received an advance copy of this via NetGalley in October, so perhaps the mood wasn’t quite right.

What I could tell early on was that Lily and Dash are this ever-so-cute couple who’ve been together nearly a year, but feel like they’re losing their way as real life gets in the way. Lily is miserable as she’s dealing with her grandfather’s illness. Dash is angsty as he can see things are going not particularly well, but isn’t sure how to rectify the situation.

For chunks of the book I felt things were rather contrived. It all felt like things were trying too hard to be cool/cute/Christmas-spirited. However, there came a moment when I could feel the charm working on me.

I loved Lily’s great-aunt and her way of talking to those around her. There were some great scenes – the gingerbread making, the Santa visit, the ice-skating glitter-fest – but by the time we had the treasure hunt I was unashamedly hooked.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me a sneak peek of this, a book that will thaw even the frostiest heart and which will have Lily and Dash fans raving. Now I’m going to have to go and read the first in the series!

‘The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett’ – Chelsea Sedoti

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett

Due for publication in January 2017, this book is very much about the main character of Hawthorn Creely and she is a character that you will either love or loathe.

Seventeen year old Hawthorn doesn’t feel like she fits in anywhere, and she spends a lot of her time observing from the side-lines. That’s not to say she doesn’t have friends, but she doesn’t seem to really connect with them.

When Lizzie Lovett – a young woman who was in the same year of school as Hawthorn’s brother, and part of the popular crowd – goes missing, Hawthorn finds herself fascinated by what happened to her. Theories range from the sublime to the ridiculous, but the fascination with getting answers leads Hawthorn to connect with others in a way that she hasn’t up until this point.

This is not an action-packed novel, but it does allow us the opportunity to see into the mind of someone who understands what it is to be seen as a little bit different. I personally enjoyed getting to know this character, and found her gaucheness quite endearing. I found her outlook on life in a small town quite refreshing, and though the ending wasn’t quite as I hoped it would be, it allowed us to see Hawthorn in a new light.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers Sourcebooks for the advance copy in exchange for my thoughts.

‘The Sky is Everywhere’ – Jandy Nelson

The Sky is Everywhere

Lennie, seventeen, lives with her grandmother and uncle, and is trying to come to terms with the sudden death of her sister, Bailey, just four weeks ago. When we first meet Lennie she is stuck in her grief-bouncing around trying to make sense of how she feels but talking to no one about her feelings.

Reading the blurb I thought this would be a rather lightweight read. How wrong!

Immediately I was intrigued by the inclusion of the random words written to Bailey that are found scattered round town. These bear testimony to Lennie’s feelings, but also help us to understand the relationships between the characters.

From the start I had an uncomfortable feeling about the situation developing between Bailey’s ex, Toby, and Lennie. They were both dealing with grief in their own way, but not really addressing the key issue. This, of course, sets up a collision course for Lennie’s relationship with new boy, Joe Fontaine. This relationship was incredibly intense and, if I’m being cynical, totally exaggerated but while I was reading it I totally believed in it and wanted to watch them wring every bit of happiness out of it that they could.

Throughout, there is a focus on grief and how people survive such events but I felt this had a really life-affirming message.

‘When Everything Feels Like the Movies’ – Raziel Reid

When Everything Feels Like the Movies

A rather curious read, and one that I was quite taken with – though I can see why it will have caused some controversy.

My feelings about this book veered from one extreme to the next as I was reading. It’s a hard book to sum up, so I won’t even try, but I will try and make sense of my reaction to it.

Jude, our narrator, reminded me of Justin from Ugly Betty on acid. Everything about him shrieked of wanting attention. He is the star of his own show, and really seems to go out of his way to be provocative. He chooses to wear dresses and make-up to school, every opportunity he gets to make sexualised comments he does and his dramatisation of his life gets a bit grating. That was my first reaction to Jude, but that would be doing him an injustice.

While I found this novel to be a little crass in its expression at times – and I am still naive enough to think that the actions of Jude and his friend Angela are not typical of many fifteen year olds – there were moments when I found myself willing Jude on.

The experience of coming out as a teenager must, at times, be fraught with issues. No matter how advanced we think our society is, the bullying and abuse that Jude experiences at school were horrific. Coupled with the scant details we got of his abusive home life, I felt a real sense of outrage that nobody seemed willing to stand up for Jude in the way I felt he deserved.

Like a number of readers, I wasn’t sure I had the stomach to read this all the way through (which is crazy as it’s such a short book). Slowly I found myself being drawn in by the prolific movie references that shed light on Jude’s character and his situation, and I wanted to see where the writer would take this.

For the first half of the book I was reading in a fairly detached way, but then details started to get under my skin. This was a book that was affecting, and not always in a good way. As the novel drew towards the end I was expecting some Carrie-like homage as Jude took revenge on the offensive idiots who carried out the most obvious hate crimes. What I got floored me. Completely. I had to reread a part of the book several times as I couldn’t believe what had happened.

The image of Jude twirling on the dance floor was one I was expecting to keep in my mind for a while. Then Reid snatched that image, screwed it up, stamped on it and totally destroyed it! A brave move…but it has left me quite stunned.

What stunned me more was when I found out that this novel is based on true events.