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Just Like Beauty

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Book: Just Like Beauty: A Novel by Lisa Lerner

Pages: 272 (Hardcover)

The Review: This book was odd- I’ll even go so far as to say that this is one of the oddest books I’ve read in a long time.

The best way to describe this book is: a coming-of-age story set in the dystopic suburban near-future.  The book is about 14-year-old Edie, who is training for her town’s annual Feminine Woman of Conscience Pageant.  The girls compete in…erotic and other womanly arts.  There were a few tasks that jumped out at me- Mysterious Powders, which Edie was really good at, a task where she had to train a rabbit and then kill it to make something out of it’s fur, and another task that involves simulating sex with a plastic dummy.  That last task I mentioned?  It’s how the book opens, with Edie practicing for that portion of the Pageant.

The town is really futuristic, with restaurants like Just Like Meat Planet, and products like Just Like Beans.

I liked the premise of the novel, but I felt like it started in the middle of the story.  There was a lot missing-  basic details about how this town got to be so futuristic, what the pageant is really all about, and critical parts of the story weren’t explained very well, and that’s if they were explained at all.  Edie’s first love, her relationship with her parents, and why her mother was the way she was weren’t really developed.

The book does make you think, and I have all kinds of questions.  Why is society is okay with their teenage daughter performing sex acts on a plastic dummy?  Why are teen boys allowed to run amok?  Why are there people “torching” the girls in the pageant?

Rating: 2 out of 5.  She had the wrong kind of details- she went on too long about how futuristic the society was but glossed over the back story of how this town came to be and why things were the way they were.

Mistress Of The Art Of Death

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Book: Mistress Of The Art Of Death by Ariana Franklin

Pages: 384 (Hardcover)

My Review: Mistress Of The Art Of Death is about a woman named Adelia, and her 2 companions (Simon and Mansur) travel to England to solve the mysterious deaths of 4 children.  The community blames it on the Jewish population, who are hidden the king’s castle to keep them save from the rioting mob.

The two things that jumped out at me were the title and the cover, but the book was just okay for me.  It takes place in 12th century England, and while I don’t expect historical fiction to be completely accurate (being fiction and all), I just couldn’t get over the fact that a world dominated by men would be so accepting of a woman from a foreign country investigating the deaths of 4 children.  She was just too independent and confident for someone from 1170, and she felt too out of place, like she didn’t belong.  She was just a little *too* unrealistic for my tastes.

She seemed genuinely surprised by the few people who didn’t want her investigating the murders- you’d think that she’d be used to it, since woman doctors were (most likely) very rare in that time.

As for the plot, it wasn’t as interesting as I hoped.  I was hoping for more suspense, but the book didn’t deliver on that, and sometimes the plot just moved along really slow.  There was something off about this book, and I can’t quite place my finger on it.  I couldn’t even tell you most of what happened in the book- it wasn’t very memorable.  A lot of what I do remember (like the murders of the children and the ending), I felt like she threw in just because she could.

Rating: 2 out of 5.  The book had a lot of promise, and could have been really good.  Maybe if Adelia wasn’t so completely out of place, and if Franklin had left out some of the grisly details, I would have liked it better.

Hold Still

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Book: Hold Still by Nina LaCour

Pages: 230 (Hardcover)

My Review: Hold Still is about 16-year-old Caitlin, who is dealing with the suicide of her best friend Ingrid.

I went through it pretty fast, and it was really hard for me to put it down.  It was hard watching Caitlin struggle with her feelings of anger and guilt, and being the one left behind.  The only thing that Ingrid leaves Caitlin is one of her journals, full of drawings, letters and various journal entries that Caitlin reads over the course of the book.

Even though Ingrid is dead, you really felt her presence through her journal and through Caitlin’s memories, as well as the photographs that Caitlin take, and the photographs that Ingrid leaves behind.

It’s definitely a story of moving on, and that it’s okay to move on.  I thought LaCour did a great job of showing Caitlin’s feelings, and what she was going through.  I’ve never lost anyone to suicide, but I was a mess after my grandpa died.  I can’t imagine losing someone to suicide, but it can’t be easy.  LaCour did an amazing job showing the different emotions someone can feel after losing someone important.

I don’t usually comment on book covers, but I absolutely loved this one!  It has a teen girl on it, with one of the journal entries in the background, with a drawing on the upper left corner.

There was something about the book that reminded me of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  I don’t know if it was the overall tone of the book, or the characters from both books, or what, but almost the whole book, I was reminded of Speak.  If you liked that book, or any other book by Laurie Halse Anderson, you’ll like this one.

Rating: 3.5 of 5.  It was simple, and somewhat fragmented, but overall, I liked it a lot, and found both Ingrid and Caitlin very relateable.  I could picture everything so clearly.

Becoming Jane Austen

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Book: Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence

Pages: 294 (Paperback)

My Review: Becoming Jane Austen is a biography of Jane Austen and the people, events, and places that influenced her life and her novels.

We started off with a detailed family history, and it was really hard to keep track of everyone because the same few names appeared rather frequently. 

As much as I love Jane Austen, I couldn’t get into the book.  While Jane’s family had a big influence on her writing, I felt like they were more prominent than Jane herself.  The book itself was really dry, and I had a lot of trouble getting through it.  Sadly, I don’t remember much of anything from the book, mostly because I couldn’t bring myself to care.

There was a lot more speculation than I thought.  We don’t know a lot about Jane Austen, so I’m okay with some speculation.  The problem is that he presents it as facts, and tells us how Jane felt, when really…how can we know what she was feeling?  And the cover was misleading- on the front cover, it says (and I quote), “the true love story that inspired the classic novels.”  The back cover mentions that Tom Lefroy, a young lawyer that Jane met, “affected her life and caught her imagination.”  It’s misleading in the fact that he’s only mentioned a few times.  And the whole “we don’t really know for sure, but her sister Cassandra would have known” thing…well, why bother making it seem like her meeting Tom Lefroy is a big deal, when it really wasn’t?

I might be somewhat accepting of the fact that Tom Lefroy may have inspired Pride and Prejudice, but I just couldn’t believe that 20 years later, she was still pining for him and that meeting him had an influence on both Persuasion and Emma.  For all the influence he supposedly had on her life, it would have been nice to learn more about him and what happened to him. 

Another thing that I didn’t like was the ending.  For a book that started back in the 1600’s, it would have been nice to see what happened with her posthumously published novels.  The book literally ends with Jane’s death, and a few more pages about how her death impacted her family. 

Rating: I have to give a 1 out of 5.  I couldn’t like it, and while I’m curious about Jane Austen and her life, this book did nothing to satisfy that curiosity.

Brightly Woven

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Book: Brightly Woven by Alexandra Woven

Pages: 354 (Hardcover)

The Review: Brightly Woven is about Sydelle Mirabil, who travels with Wayland North, an unranked wizard.  He has information that could prevent the coming war, and Sydelle is his “assistant.”

I couldn’t get into the book.  We don’t really get a lot of information about the world the characters live in, and the characters aren’t developed very well.  I thought Sydelle was a little wishy-washy, and seemed a little too perfect.  As for Wayland, he was too cryptic, and seemed really sketchy. 

The main plot was to get to the capitol to give the information about the war, but that tended to be dropped for side quests.  There were a lot of things that popped up that were really random.  The book was also inconsistent in terms of plotting and characterization, and things didn’t make a lot of sense. 

I think the best way to describe the book is disjointed.  It was as if Bracken couldn’t think of any interesting details to add in about the people and the world she created, and she jumps around a lot.  It felt empty, like I was missing something.  It felt like it was pieced together and had a lot of telling but not a lot of showing. 

Rating: 1 out of 5.  There was nothing memorable about this book, and Bracken’s world-building needs a lot of work.  It felt like I was reading the first draft.

The Iron King

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Book: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Pages: 363 (Paperback)

The Review: The Iron King is about Meghan Chase and her journey to find her younger brother Ethan.  It turns out that Meghan is the daughter of a fairy king, and her younger brother Ethan is kidnapped by the Iron King.  She journeys through the Nevernever, which is Kagawa’s version of the land where fairies and such reside.  Her best friend Robbie turns out to be Puck, from A Midsummer’s Night Dream, who leads her to Nevernever, and helps her find her brother.  She meets other people along the way, and gets into all kinds of trouble along the way.

I liked it.  Kagawa’s descriptions are amazing, and I could picture everything so vividly.  I have to say that I loved Grimalkin, who is very much like the Cheshire Cat from Alice In Wonderland.  A few times, his response to things was “I’m a cat,” and I could picture Grimalkin saying it like that explained everything.  I’m not sure what to think about Meghan, the main character.  She is impulsive, and a lot of the trouble she gets herself into could have been avoided if she listened to Puck, or if she thought things through.  But at the same time, she did want to save her brother and would do anything for him.

I did like the concept of the Iron Fey.  In The Iron King, if fairies touch iron, they could die.  The faeries aren’t a big fan of the advances made in technology and science, since science “proves” they don’t exist.  But the Iron Fey were really interesting.  The Iron Fey are fairies that evolved from the traditional fairies in the book, and they are immune to iron, and are slowly poisoning Nevernever.

I enjoyed it, and you’re left wondering what happens to Meghan at the end.  There are a couple sequels, so I may have to add those to my ever-growing list of books to read.  It was fairly fast-paced, especially the 2nd and 3rd sections.  Random side note: 1- why is dividing books into different sections so prevalent? and 2, why does everything need a sequel?

Random side note aside (read: there WILL be a blog post about this), I love reading about fairies.  I feel like fairies are going to be the new vampire, because there seem to be a lot of YA books involving fairies now…

Rating: 4 out of 5.  It’s definitely a mix of different books, but I love how vivid the descriptions are, and how I feel like I’m there with Meghan.  Add the Iron Fey, and you have a really interesting take on fairies.

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels To Tractor Wheels

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Book: The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels To Tractor Wheels- A Love Story by Ree Drummond

Pages: 341 (Hardcover)

What I Thought: The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels To Tractor Wheels is the story of how Ree Drummond (also known as The Pioneer Woman) fell in love with her cowboy husband. 

I love her blog and I like her show.  I wanted to like this book, I really did.  I desperately wanted to like it. 

But I couldn’t.  I found myself hating it the more I read it. 

It’s divided into three parts- the first part was fairly decent, the second part okay, and the third part…well, it was slightly more realistic than the rest of the book.  It was readable, but read too much like a blog entry as opposed to an actual story.  Just because you’re a blog writer doesn’t mean that a book you right should sound exactly like your blog. 

I felt Ree was really shallow, and really self-absorbed.  She went on an on about how cute and amazing and thoughtful the Marlboro Man (her husband) was.  But it was really hard to see why he seemed to be so in love with her, the way she went on about clothes, shoes, make-up and how clumsy she was. 

Oh, speaking of her husband…she NEVER mentioned her husband’s real name the entire time.  NOT ONCE IN 341 PAGES DID YOU SEE HIS NAME!  I got referring to him by the Marlboro Man in the first part, since she saw him at a bar and never got his name.  However, once she started dating him, you’d think we’d get his name.  Nope, not going to happen.  Not even during their wedding was his given name mentioned.  It’s cutesy in her blog, and even the first few chapters of the book, but after a couple hundred pages, it’s not so cute anymore.  In fact, the only mention of his name is on the book jacket.  WTF, Pioneer Woman, WTF? 

She was definitely ill-prepared for being a cowboy’s wife.  The way she tells it, her husband and his family never talked to her about what it would be like living on a ranch in the middle of nowhere.  She often worried about what to wear when she was going to the ranch.  It’s like it never occurred to her to ask him what she should wear.  But then again, the clothes she described didn’t seem suitable to living on a ranch.  

Ree seems to be living in a fantasy world the whole book.  She portrays her relationship with Ladd as a fairy tale, and he’s her Prince Charming.  For someone who wants to be independent, she really seems to be dependent on other people.  There’s no mention of her having a job, she spends her time at home or at Ladd’s ranch, and seems to depend on her parents for everything.  Her parents marriage falls apart, and they get a divorce, but she seems to be in denial about what’s going on.  When she isn’t, she really doesn’t seem to care that her parents are getting a divorce.  She doesn’t seem to care about Mike, her developmentally disabled brother, and often tells him to leave her alone.  She seems to gloss over a lot of really bad things, exaggerates things that really aren’t a big deal, and doesn’t ask her parents if there’s anything she can do to make things easier for them.

And as for the relationship between Ree and Ladd, I could see why she liked him and why she was attracted to him.  But nowhere did I see why he might love her.  I felt like their relationship was based more on passion and chemistry, but it seems rather surprising that it seems to be happy and successful.  Maybe I’m a cynic, but while I like a certain amount of fluff…this was way too fluffy for my tastes. 

Rating: 1 out of 5.  I didn’t like it, and while it was meant to be a sappy fairy tale, I felt a dose of realism was needed.

Fruits Basket, Volume 11

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Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 11 by Natsuki Takaya

Pages: 200 (Paperback)

What Did I Think? In Volume 11, Akito keeps the zodiac with him during the day, leaving Kyo and Tohru alone.  Akito and Kureno set off to meet the Tohru the next day, because Akito thinks that Tohru needs to learn that she is no match for him.  After seeing Kyo and Tohru having fun at the beach, Akito decides that Kyo needs to learn the lesson first.  We meet Rin Sohma, who is the horse in the zodiac, but Tohru and Yuki promise they won’t tell anyone she’s there.  Akito asks for Kyo and asks if Kyo is any closer to succeeding in the bet they had going.  Akito goes to see Tohru before leaving, and tells her to stop interfering.  Akito reveals that Kureno is the rooster, and that Akito is the god of the zodiac.  Tohru vows to break the zodiac curse.

I liked this volume, and this is the real turning point in the story.  I think this might be my favorite in the series so far, because you see Kyo wanting to protect Tohru, and realizing that it won’t be easy, and you see Tohru resolving to break the curse so her friends will be okay and so they can be free from Akito.

And of course, no volume of Fruits Basket is complete without fan art, which is always really cool to see.  We also learn about the year of the sheep.  I miss the random ultra special blah-blah-blah column, but at least she has random side notes to read, which are always interesting.

Rating: 5 out of 5.  If I could give it a higher rating, I would.

Perfect

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Book: Perfect by Sara Shepard

Pages: 298 (Hardcover)

My Thoughts: In Volume 3, A tells Aria’s mom, Ella, that Aria’s dad (Byron) had an affair with a student.  This is after Aria ignored A’s threats.  Ella kicks Aria out of the house, so she goes to live with her boyfriend Sean and his family.  Aria still continues her affair with her English teacher.  Emily starts up a relationship with Maya, but is outed at a swim meet.  Her parents send her to Tree Tops, a program that will help Emily get over the “illness” of being gay.  Emily ignores them because she doesn’t want to change who she is.  Hanna is no longer friends with Mona, and is humiliated at Mona’s birthday party.  At the party, she gets a text from A, and recognizes the number, finally figuring out who A is.  Spencer’s family finds out that she used her sister’s economics essay in class, which may ruin her chances at getting the Golden Orchid award that she was nominated for.  They all meet at Rosewood Day School so Hanna can tell them about A, but before Hanna can do that, she is run over by a car.  The book ends with a text from A, saying that Hanna knew too much.

It’ definitely intriguing, and the mystery continues.  I really want to know who A is, and why A is putting the girls through all of this.  A definitely has some issues, since A ran someone over because they knew too much.  I get why the girls don’t want to go to the police, since they’d have to tell all of their secrets, but at the same time, they’re clearly in over their heads with all of this.  Not wanting to spill their secrets might have cost Hanna her life…but I have the distinct feeling Hanna isn’t going to die.  But people are getting hurt because of this!

There’s also a stalker in Rosewood, and this mysterious stalker is looking in people’s houses.  Emily, Hanna, Aria, and Spencer know it’s A, but don’t tell anyone.  And A sends a picture of Aria and her English teacher to Sean, who calls the police, and then dumps Aria, leaving her with nowhere to go.  Aria and her English teacher…that whole thing is such a mess.  I don’t even know where to start with that, so I’m not even going to try.

I’m getting more intrigued as I continue to read the series.  I feel like A is someone we’ve met, but overall, I really have no clue.  A is very sneaky, but since they accidentally revealed themselves, how good could they really be?  A will clearly stop at nothing to get what they want.

Rating: 4 out of 5.  It’s pretty good, and it’s consistently good.

Flawless

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Book: Flawless by Sara Shepard

Pages: 330 (Hardcover)

What Did I Think? The Pretty Little Liars series continues with the 2nd book, Flawless.  The 4 girls continue to get texts from the mysterious A, who threatens to expose the secrets they had told Ali.  They believe A is Toby Cavanaugh, who is the only other person who knew about “The Jenna Thing.”  We learned what the Jenna thing is: they were having a sleepover, and they caught Toby watching them change clothes.  To get back at him, they went over to his treehouse, and Ali lit a firework.  Instead of scaring Toby, they accidentally blind his step-sister Jenna.  Emily is taunted about her feelings for Maya, while Hanna is pressured to tell a couple people about her bulimia and shoplifting.  Aria is told to get rid of Meredith or A will tell her mom, and A tells Melissa that Spencer has been dating Wren, who is Melissa’s ex-fiancee.  Emily accuses Toby of murdering Alison; he later kills himself, and Spencer reveals that he had molested Jenna.  Emily realizes Toby thought she was talking about that, and was worried she would tell the entire town about what he did to Jenna.

It was really intriguing, and just when you think that everything is revealed…you realize that it’s not.  Emily gets a text from the mysterious A, which means it’s not Toby.  Of course it’s not Toby, because there are a total of 9 books in the series, with one to be released in December.  So it would be way too easy for it to be Toby.  But since it’s not Toby, who is A?  How does A know all their secrets?  Did Alison tell A?  Why is A taunting them now?  How does A know what they’re doing at all times?  Did they do something to A?  I know these questions will be answered at some point in the series…or at least I hope they’re answered.

I really like the series, at least based on the first couple books.  I love how mysterious everything is, and we only get bits and pieces of everything.  A mysterious stalker, threatening to reveal their secrets?  4 girls who used to be best friends, but drifted apart after their ringleader mysteriously vanished, only to be brought together again?  What’s not to like?

Rating: 4 out of 5.  I was worried that I wouldn’t like it, but I do.  I’m hoping the series doesn’t get all weird or anything.  Well, weirder than it already is.