Shorter Musings (YA)

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.

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Serafina and the Black Cloak

Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty is a thrilling tale of mystery and adventure set at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC in 1899. Having lived in Asheville and visited the house several times, there was no way I was going to pass up a chance to read this. (Also it's MG fantasy, always a bonus for me.) Serafina lives in secret in the basement of the Vanderbilt's spacious vacation home. She has lived there most of her life. Her father worked on the house as it was being built and is the mechanic who runs the massive generator and keeps the electricity going. Serafina is the chief rat catcher, slipping through the halls of her massive home secretly and quietly. She is light on her feet, sees well in the dark, and is quick enough to catch the vermin and keep them out. Serafina knows she if different and strange. Her father insists she stay hidden. But all that changes when one night Serafina witnesses a horrible crime. A little girl, a guest in the house, is fleein...

TTT: Characters I'd Follow On Social Media

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly themed blog hop created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl . This Week's Topic: Characters I'd Follow On Social Media I love this topic. I actually have my students create social media pages for characters for extra credit assignments, so I've always thought this was fun to think about. It actually really requires some character analysis to do well. Which social media fits this character's personality? What would they post about? How much of their inner lives would they share? Here are the characters I would follow, where I would follow them, and why: Lizzie Bennet on Tumblr because you know her blog would be a beautiful mix of nerdy fangirl thoughtfulness and feminist manifestos. I love following people like that. Darcy on Twitter: He would use it rarely, but when he did, it would be to the point and oh so entertaining. Amy March on Instagram because it would be beautifully aesthetic, and...

A Tale of Two Castles

Gail Carson Levine is a great spinner of tales of magic. I will say that I have not liked her subsequent novels nearly as much as I love Ella Enchanted , but when I read them I always enjoy them. Her latest novel, A Tale of Two Castles , I enjoyed quite a bit. It still comes in a distant second to Ella but it was an enjoyable read. Any enthusiast of girl and dragon companion books will have a great deal of fun with this one. Summary (from Amazon ): Newly arrived in the town of Two Castles, Elodie unexpectedly becomes the assistant to a brilliant dragon named Meenore, and together they solve mysteries. Their most important case concerns the town’s shape-shifting ogre, Count Jonty Um: Someone is plotting against him. Elodie must disguise herself to discover the source of the threat amid a cast of characters that includes a greedy king, a giddy princess, and a handsome cat trainer. Readers who loved Ella Enchanted and Fairest will delight in this t...

Piecing Me Together

A couple years ago This Side of Home was one of my favorite reads so when I found out we were getting a new Renée Watson book this year it automatically became one of my most anticipated reads. Piecing Me Together lived up to all my expectations and then some. Jade lives in north Portland but goes to the fancy private school St. Francis on a scholarship. She knows this is her greatest opportunity to go to school and get out of Oregon. It can make her feel like she is living a dual life though. Her first two years there were successful academically, but she didn't make many friends. As her junior year begins, Jade is asked to join a mentor/mentee program for "at risk" girls called Woman to Woman. She's not really sure she needs it. She doesn't feel at risk, and she definitely doesn't feel like her mentor, Maxine, is going to be very helpful in teaching her about the real world. But as the year continues to go less the way Jade expected, the more she lea...

Shadowshaper

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older is everywhere. Best of lists. Award buzz. Blogs everywhere. It's one of those books everyone is reading and talking about. I had it on my TBR but decided I definitely needed to read it before the year was out just so I could weigh in on one of the most talked about books of 2015 if asked. It is deserving of every good thing said about it. Every. One. Sierra was looking forward to a relaxing summer break. Her plans involved hanging out with her friends and painting. They did not involve being chased by zombie like creatures and threatened by a magical power connected to her family's heritage she has never heard of. When murals begin fading all over her Brooklyn neighborhood, Sierra is perplexed. When her grandfather, who had a stroke, begins to apologize and starts repeating strange phases and insisting Sierra get the help of a boy she barely knows to help her finish her mural, Sierra is concerned but mostly about her grandfather. Then at a...

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