Category: Young Adult

‘One of Us is Lying’ – Karen M. McManus

Due for publication at the end of May 2017, I am really grateful to the author and publishers Delacorte Press (via NetGalley) for allowing me to read this early.

For readers of the target group, the John Hughes movie The Breakfast Club will probably not mean anything. But, throughout, I could see the influence of this movie – and one or two hit teen dramas of recent years – on the way this was written. Yet I never felt I was simply rehashing old ground.

The basic plot is simple. Five students of Bayview High – the “walking teen stereotypes” – are put in detention one night. One of the five, Simon, runs a hit app on which his peers depend for their gossip. Unfortunately Simon was planning to reveal a little secret belonging to each of the four students with him in detention. This provides each of the four with a reason to be a suspicious character in the investigation that ensues after Simon (who suffers with a peanut allergy) ends up dead.

A high-impact start, and we are taken on something of a rollercoaster ride as we learn a little more about Bronwen, Nate, Addy, Cooper and the young man who seemed to hold the key to their high school happiness in his hands.

Don’t worry, there’s no big reveal here. What I will tell you is that I was second-guessing everyone and everything I was told. I trusted nobody and, though I suspected the final revelation, I still wasn’t certain until very close to the end.

A greta debut, and one I will be heartily recommending to my students.

‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ – Jay Asher

Strangely, this is one of those ‘classic’ reads that has passed me by. I had heard students talking about the Netflix version of it recently, and was curious to see to what extent this show had altered the text. Before I go any further, I must point out I’ve not watched the series yet-but it’s come in for some criticism.

Before I started reading I was wondering why Asher decided to have Hannah, his main character, tell her story through tapes. It was a dated mode in 2007, and I can’t see it coming close to making sense to today’s teenagers. That aside, I think most will read this for the idea behind it – and the exploration of character.

The opening part of the book introduces us to Clay. He’s just received a mysterious package with thirteen tapes inside. When he starts listening to the tapes he learns they’re from Hannah, a girl in his school, who recently killed herself. On the tapes she pledges to reveal how thirteen individuals played their part in her decision.

Clay himself was a good guy. He obviously felt deeply affected by what he was hearing, and we were left with the view of him as a boy who tried to do right but who, on the main event, didn’t quite push far enough.

Other characters were far less appealing. Whether it’s one-time friend who puts her down; the boy who objectifies her; the first kiss who laughs with his mates and exaggerates just what they got up to; the peeping tom who pretends to be her friend or the teacher who doesn’t quite get it, there’s an awful lot of characters who play their part in helping feed Hannah’s low self-esteem.

Reading the transcript of the tapes puts us in Clay’s shoes. There’s a morbid curiosity about just what circumstances created the feeling in Hannah (who seems quite a strong character on the surface) that this was her only option. What stuck with me was a comment from the start of the book where Hannah says ‘it’s not about what you did…it’s about the repercussions of what you did’. Given the pressures on teenagers now, I think this message is more pertinent than ever-and if readers take nothing else from it than to consider how their action/inaction might affect someone else, then it’s a good thing.

I found it hard that Hannah reaches out on a couple of occasions (but not in a way that really indicates she’s feeling anything beyond frustration with her peers) and we do get given a number of ‘check-list’ features that more vulnerable teenagers might be tempted by. I can’t imagine how desperate someone must be feeling to actually go through with suicide, but I think there may have been other characters closer to Hannah that could have offered a different perspective on the events they hear.

‘Dorothy Must Die’ series – Danielle Paige

 

Book one – ‘Dorothy Must Die’ (read 24/04/17)

An unexpected treat for me.

We all know the story of Dorothy and her companions, and their adventures in Oz. What we’re encouraged to believe here is that Dorothy grew to like the power and attention and has gone slightly crazy. Now surrounded by sycophants and very odd characters, Dorothy is slowly draining Oz of its magic.

Into this world steps Amy Gumm, another girl from Kansas who is dropped into the world via a tornado. She is taken under the wings of the Order, and her mission is to kill Dorothy.

Though Amy was a little irritating, and I disliked the obvious focus on physical perfection, this was a great read. I don’t think you can take it too seriously, but it was an intriguing idea.

‘King’s Cage’ – Victoria Aveyard

I admit to having mixed feelings about this third in the series. It was slow to get going and did, too frequently, feel like a bit of a filler, but it really picked up the pace just over halfway through. By the end I was feeling more than a little wrung out – and now I’m desperate to see where Aveyard takes things in the final instalment.

Our story begins with Mare having been taken prisoner by the new King. She is kept bound in manacles, Maven desperate to take away her lightning power. Though Mare and Cal have been desperate to see the best in Maven – laying the blame for his personality at the hands of his mother – it becomes increasingly clear that he is just as dangerous as she ever hoped he would be.

The initial chapters focus on establishing the stifling atmosphere in which Mare is kept. She is a powerful trophy prisoner, Maven using her to manipulate others within his kingdom. However, alongside this we see the planning and training that the Scarlet Guard/Reds and their supporters are putting in place.

Switching views as we do can, on occasion, mean a frustrating wait to pull together the pieces. However, as we put things together it is clear that we are about to get a humdinger of a story as everything comes together.

There was so much to love about this: some cracking battle scenes; graphic descriptions of the battles and training; a wonderful reconciliation between the characters of Cal and Mare; a hint that sometimes help comes from unexpected quarters, and the most heart-wrenching ending ever (though we kind of know to expect it, it doesn’t make it any easier to accept).

With part four expected in February 2018 we’re in for a tense wait. Personally, I’m torn between hoping Cal and Mare get their happy ending and waiting for chinks in the Maven-bad-guy persona. Whichever way it goes, I have a feeling I’m going to like this!

 

‘But Then I Came Back’ – Estelle Laure

A companion guide to This Raging Light, this story focuses on Eden. She nearly drowns in an accident and is in a coma for a month. When she wakes up she remembers her family visiting her, but is convinced that she also met the young girl in the room opposite her (who remains in a coma).

Eden was a talented dancer, but it is evident that she set herself very high standards and is struggling to adjust to life after a coma.

There was a lot of mystical/supernatural detail, some of which was interesting but it all felt rather like watching someone explore their philosophical beliefs from a distance.

We watch Eden fall in love with Joe, the best friend of the girl in the room opposite her, and there is some passing reference to Lucille and Digby. There is no need to have read Laure’s debut of this to make sense, but it was good to return to the characters.

A little like my response to This Raging Light, this was a book that was easy to read but which didn’t really appeal as much as I hoped it would. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in advance of publication.

‘Letters to the Lost’ – Brigid Kemmerer

Juliet Young has always written letters to her photo-journalist mother. When she is killed in a hit-and-run accident, Juliet continues this tradition – leaving letters at her mother’s grave. Declan Murphy is not the kind of student you want to cross. He is stuck at the local cemetery carrying out community service after crashing his father’s car after he’d been drinking. When he finds a letter at the cemetery he is struck by the content and decides to write back.

The opening chapters of the novel are a little confusing as we try to establish who the two characters are, and how they are linked. However, it is evident that both these characters are struggling to deal with grief. Though Juliet and Declan have this shared grief, they don’t seem to have anything else in common.

In real life you might be tempted to ignore a note written on a letter left at a grave. However, Juliet is angered by someone reading her innermost thoughts and decides to respond. Thus begins a rather quirky exchange, which allows us to learn an awful lot more about Juliet and Declan than we would if they were constantly censoring what they were telling us.

I really liked the alternating style of this novel. We were able to see beyond the surface of the two characters, and it was refreshing to see them bond without actually meeting.

Inevitably, the two start to work out who each other is. They trust each other to reveal their true feelings about the events that have happened in their lives, and we get to see their shifting relationship as they start to think about how to move on and take control of what happens to them a little more.

The ending is, perhaps, more resolved than might reasonably be expected to occur but I liked the fact that the writer allows us to see the potential for change, and shows how sometimes taking a risk can pay off.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this in advance of publication.

‘The Caster Chronicles’ – Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

 

 

Book One – Beautiful Creatures – finished 13/04/17

Intriguingly this novel is told from the perspective of a young male, Ethan Wate. He has been having strange dreams, and they seem to be linked to the new girl to arrive in the town of Gatlin, Lena Duchannes. We can tell, immediately, that there is something unusual about these two…the question is, just how unusual.

In this first in the series we are introduced to the hidden people of Gatlin, the Casters. On their sixteenth birthday we are told that each female descendant of Guinevere Duchannes must be claimed. It is an age-old event, and nobody knows whether they will be claimed as Light or Dark. Lena is desperate to avoid this fate, and the novel focuses on her attempts – with help from Ethan – to work out what steps she can take to control her destiny.

Ethan is the kind of character who seems quite content to live his life on the sidelines. He’s fairly popular, but nothing too special. He does what he can to avoid confrontation – until Lena’s arrival, which seems to wake him up and force him to start questioning just what and who is important to him.

There wasn’t anything particularly unexpected in this, but I did enjoy watching Ethan and Lena start to unravel the mysteries surrounding their respective families. A powerful ending, which nicely prepares us for something big in book two.

Book Two – Beautiful Darkness – finished 26/04/17

Book Two in the series was, for me, possibly better than the first but it did seem to take a long time to get going. We pick up after the unfortunate events of Lena’s birthday and we expect everything to be positive…but it’s very far from alright. Lena and Ethan are drifting apart, and Ethan has no clue why.

The struggles in the relationship between Ethan and Lena form the backdrop to this story, but the real interest lies in the developments in the Caster world. There are hints that what people believed might not be quite the truth, and there are some rather shocking revelations.

I enjoyed the journey to try and help Lena, though I am amazed that Liv – who seemed to have her head screwed on right – found much to like about Ethan. He learns a little more about himself, but he is clueless to say the least. I wonder whether he’ll come into his own in the rest of the books, but I’m hoping to see a little more of Link who is definitely not having the best of times by the end of this!

Book Three – Beautiful Chaos – finished 30/04/17

There’s a horrible sense of inevitability to this third in the series. We suspect that things are not going to end well for Ethan and Lena, and there’s a lot to suggest that this is the case. Nothing is, however, certain by the close of the novel so I am hoping that we’ll get proper answers in the final book.

Abraham is becoming more of a threat, though nobody is entirely certain what he is planning. What is clear is that Lena’s earlier actions have upset the order of things, and there will be a price to pay.

I loved the development for Link, who is rather a goofy character but one you cannot help but like. I was also pleasantly surprised to see some of the other characters in a new light here.

Book Four – Beautiful Redemption – finished 30/04/17

A shorter read in the series, and thankfully everything panned out nicely.

I wouldn’t say this was as good as the others in the series, but you definitely could see the story progressing and were able to get a sense of how matters might be resolved.

Ethan and Lena share the telling of this story – and this makes sense once we know what’s going on – but it did lead to a more disjointed feel.

If you’ve read the first three, you’ll not want to miss this.

‘Girlhood’ – Cat Clarke

Scheduled for publication in May 2017, I have to thank NetGalley and Hachette Childrens’ Group for allowing me to read an advance copy.

First things first, though Girlhood is set in a boarding school and features a close-knit group of friends this is no Enid Blyton-style experience. Our first introduction to the girls establishes them as a group who know each other pretty well, but we can never entirely know someone and Harper’s secret about her sister is one she wants keeping.

When new girl, Kirsty, arrives at the school we watch somewhat horrified as she is subjected to The Hole – being trapped overnight in a confined dark space. However, her experience establishes a bond between Harper and Kirsty that the new girl is keen to exploit. We cannot help but ask ourselves why, and it’s not long before we get some answers.

Unfortunately, Kirsty is not quite what she sets herself up to be and the cracks in the group start to show.

The stifling atmosphere of the boarding school ensures that the issues the girls have are maintained at high intensity. Though the fluctuating dynamics between the girls did, to me, appear rather exaggerated I think teen readers will find plenty to like about this.

I certainly enjoyed the story, and was desperate to unravel the mysteries that were set up. My only real gripe was with the ending. Of course people make mistakes, and grief will affect everyone differently. However, I was surprised at how quickly the girls seemed to forgive Kirsty even after some of the things she had done.

‘Optimists Die First’ – Susin Nielsen

I loved the warmth and honesty of ‘We Are All Made of Molecules’, so I was looking forward to reading this when I was approved for an advance copy by NetGalley.

The story focuses on sixteen year old Petula, a young girl struggling to live with the guilt she feels after the death of her younger sister. Ever since this awful event, we learn that Petula has distanced herself from friends and family, and done all she can to alienate herself from everything that made her who she was prior to Maxine’s death. As with Nielsen’s previous book we focus on a family in crisis, but here the journey along this path does – on occasion – feel a little forced.

What happened is revealed slowly, so at first Petula’s anxieties seem a little unexpected. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they are depicted unsympathetically, but at first it almost seems as if she is trying very hard to make us see her as quirky rather than someone trying to come to terms with a major loss.

I liked the honest way in which Nielsen shows how Petula’s life has been affected by what happened. She is not coping, but her resilience is evident in the way she tries to help her parents and the rather off-beat approach she takes to her art therapy classes. When newcomer Jacob is paired with her for a school project she lets him in, opening herself up to the possibility of being hurt. While there was a rather obvious romance here, I think it was a brave step to show how Petula, Jacob and the other characters deal with their friendships. Nothing is quite what we expect here, and this will definitely be a book that appeals to younger readers.

‘Stargazing for Beginners’ – Jenny McLachlan

The cover for this book is wonderful and I was intrigued by the idea of a novel featuring a female protagonist who is excited by science. Sadly, Meg is portrayed as – and I quote the review material – a ‘science geek’, which only perpetuates the idea that a girl being interested in science is something to mock. The key concept of the novel focuses on Meg’s love of science and how she is desperate to win a competition to visit NASA.

What shone through immediately was the love Meg has for her subject. She is passionate about her love of the stars, but it’s also very clear that she uses this as an escape route to avoid having to deal with the emotional realities of her life, which is chaotic to say the least.

Meg lives with her mother and baby sister, and she very much seems to have adopted the role of ‘adult’ in her family set-up. She gains some respite from the relationship she shares with her grandfather, but none of the adult figures in her life give her the support you might expect. She gets support, but not from where we might expect.

Early on in the book Meg finds herself alone with her baby sister, as her mother has hopped on a plane to fly to Thailand in order to help with another Big Important Cause. Her mother is described as free-spirited, but her selfishness and immaturity just made me so angry. There’s nothing to find positive in an adult who simply abandons her children as she wants to do something useful…

Unfortunately for me, the basic concept of Meg’s family set-up annoyed me so much that I fear it tainted my reading. While the story was entertaining enough, I could not believe it would have worked out like this. Meg was a likeable character, but her growth as a person was not enough to overcome the intense irritation created by the situation she was placed in. This may be one that teen readers would really enjoy since Meg is resilient and copes admirably in the circumstances. Sadly, it did not find a fan in me.