Here are some shorter musings on some recent YA reads.
Iron Cast by Destiny Soria
I have very mixed feelings about this one. The prose definitely drew me in as a reader and the concept was interesting and carried out well. I love books that feature strong female friendships and this one is a stellar example. But I thought it was a little too long and despite it being technically excellent, I found that it lacked a certain heart that kept me from falling in love with it. It was more of an intellectual appreciation of the writing skill and that always distracts me from fully loving a book. I don't want to be thinking about that WHILE I'm reading.
My Unscripted Life by Lauren Morrill
I haven't liked any of Morrill's books as much as I liked her debut, [book:Meant to Be|11721314], but this one comes the closest to recapturing the feel of that book. It is fun, fluffy, and romantic. There is a good bit of a wish fulfillment fantasy type story. That is not a criticism of the book itself, but that is not my favorite type of romance. I'm sure it will have a lot of appeal for teens, so many of them have this exact fantasy. Not about the same sort of celebrity as every teen is different, but generally the meet your fav famous person and they fall in love you is a definite go to for teen dream making times.
Still Life with Tornado by A.S. King
This is well written. A.S. King has such a way with words and characters. Sarah's voice is exactly right for the person she is. She is having a crisis of confidence, faith, and a general ennui with life. There are underlying reasons for this that are major and impacted her strongly even though she couldn't quite acknowledge how much. This book is journey to that point. It is magical realism because 10 year old Sarah, 23 year old Sarah, and 40 year old Sarah are there to help her through. This was the part of the book I couldn't quite get into. I'm not a huge fan of magical realism in general so this was just not meant to be my thing. I did enjoy it for the most part though and I will completely understand if it wins the Printz.
Iron Cast by Destiny Soria
I have very mixed feelings about this one. The prose definitely drew me in as a reader and the concept was interesting and carried out well. I love books that feature strong female friendships and this one is a stellar example. But I thought it was a little too long and despite it being technically excellent, I found that it lacked a certain heart that kept me from falling in love with it. It was more of an intellectual appreciation of the writing skill and that always distracts me from fully loving a book. I don't want to be thinking about that WHILE I'm reading.
My Unscripted Life by Lauren Morrill
I haven't liked any of Morrill's books as much as I liked her debut, [book:Meant to Be|11721314], but this one comes the closest to recapturing the feel of that book. It is fun, fluffy, and romantic. There is a good bit of a wish fulfillment fantasy type story. That is not a criticism of the book itself, but that is not my favorite type of romance. I'm sure it will have a lot of appeal for teens, so many of them have this exact fantasy. Not about the same sort of celebrity as every teen is different, but generally the meet your fav famous person and they fall in love you is a definite go to for teen dream making times.
Still Life with Tornado by A.S. King
This is well written. A.S. King has such a way with words and characters. Sarah's voice is exactly right for the person she is. She is having a crisis of confidence, faith, and a general ennui with life. There are underlying reasons for this that are major and impacted her strongly even though she couldn't quite acknowledge how much. This book is journey to that point. It is magical realism because 10 year old Sarah, 23 year old Sarah, and 40 year old Sarah are there to help her through. This was the part of the book I couldn't quite get into. I'm not a huge fan of magical realism in general so this was just not meant to be my thing. I did enjoy it for the most part though and I will completely understand if it wins the Printz.
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