Book Review: Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City, by Kirsten Miller

One day, Ananka Fishbein looks out of her book-filled apartment and notices two weird things. One is a strange creature, covered in dirt. The second is a large hole in the ground that appears to contain a room. The creature disappears quickly, but she investigates the hole and discovers a passageway that leads deep underground. Ananka is interrupted by two city workers, and although she gets away, the hole is filled in, and the passage buried. She can't get her new discovery out of her head, nor can she ignore the tiny, blonde and  dangerous Kiki Strike, a girl she's only just noticed at school. Kiki may have always been there, or may have just arrived. Ananka struggles to understand what's going on as she is recruited into The Irregulars, a group of former Girl Scouts about to embark on the biggest adventure of their young lives.

Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City has a great concept. I first read about it at Leaving Shangri-La, and fell in love immediately with the idea of renegade Girl Scouts exploring an underground city beneath New York. However, I did find it a little slow going for at least the first half of the book. Ananka has to do a lot of waiting, and I longed for it to be pacier. Ultimately, the pay-off is a lot of fun but I feel that I will enjoy future books in this series more, having already gotten through all the build-up.

Ananka, Kiki, DeeDee, Oona, Betty, and Luz, are almost your stock girl-gang stereotypes. There's a bookish narrator, an enigmatic ringleader and martial artist, a chemist, a forger, a costumier, and an inventor. Still, I loved the dynamics and drama in their friendships. A lot of the tension comes from Kiki's mysterious nature, which the other girls find both fascinating and aggravating. Oona and Luz are probably the most developed of the other characters, in terms of home life and backstory, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of them and to discovering the details of DeeDee and Betty's lives.

One of the quirks of this book is that every chapter ends with an unconventionally educational little section about such things as hidden cities, lying and self-defence. I absolutely loved these lists, especially the hidden cities one, and spent hours looking them up on the internet!

The Shadow City itself doesn't get that much page time in the end, and I was a little sad about that, but the scenes set there were fantastic. I loved all the action, with rats and explosions and maps! The blurb for the second book, Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb, suggests that it will be revisited, so I will have to track down a copy soon!

All in all, I thought that although Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City takes a while to get going, it was still an intriguing and enormously fun start to a series, and I will definitely read the second book to see where it goes. I think it would make a great film, though you'd need a pretty big budget for the Shadow City!

Book Review: Pushing the Limits, by Katie McGarry

Echo Emerson wasn't always an outcast. Last year, she was popular, an accomplished painter, on the school dance team, and dating Luke, one of their school's top sports players. She had everything, at least on the surface,  though she was struggling to deal with her parents' divorce and the death of her brother Aires in Afghanistan. But that was all before the incident at her mother's house one afternoon that left her with scars on her arms and torso, and no memory of what happened. She knows her mother was responsible, and that now there is a restraining order to keep her away, but nothing more.The only thing Echo is looking forward to is leaving to go to university, but her father won't let her take art classes anymore, pressuring her to study accountancy at university instead.

Mrs Collins, the new school counsellor, doesn't seem much better than all the other professionals Echo's seen since the incident, but then she offers her an opportunity to make some money, which Echo desperately wants so that she can finish fixing up the car that Aires dreamed of getting running.

To earn this money, Echo has to tutor Noah, our other narrator: failed by the social care system, angry at the world, but desperate to gain custody of his younger brother once he graduates. Echo and Noah both resent this setup at first, despite their mutual attraction, but slowly they become an important part of each others' lives.

I have to guiltily confess that my expectations of Pushing the Limits were not that high. It's been changed on the final edition, but the tagline on the front of the proof copy (received at the first Mira INK bloggers' party) is 'A bad boy. A lost girl. An unforgettable love'. I do not generally like 'bad boys' as love interests, and despite all the positive reviews I'd read I just didn't think that Pushing the Limits could be that good. I was wrong. I loved it from the start.

I thought the characterisation was just fantastic. Of course I loved tentatively willful Echo, desperate to find out what exactly her mother did to her and struggling to break free from her father's control, and determined Noah, who is full of angry emotions yet loves his brothers above all else, but the secondary characters are interesting and well-developed as well. Mrs Collins is clever but flawed, excellent at understanding the teenagers but a terrible driver, and usually right, but not all the time. Echo's dad is demanding and controlling but we can see that he does want the best for Echo. Echo's mother, probably the most challenging character to portray fairly, is frighteningly believable. I also loved Echo and Noah's friends - beautiful Lila, who is always on Echo's side, provides a nice contrast with impatient and socially-paranoid Grace, and Isaiah and Beth are essentially Noah's true family, both caring towards him and self-involved at once. Even when the characters behave selfishly, they still have sympathetic elements, so no-one that features 'on screen' is easy to hate.

I loved Echo and Noah's relationship - yes, the scenario in which they get together isn't the most likely or original, but they seemed like a believable couple. They're in lust from the start but when their feelings develop, it doesn't seem rushed, and when they have relationship troubles, Noah gives Echo the space she needs, unlike some fictional couples that harass each other until they give in, something which is presented as romantic but isn't the healthiest or most successful technique in real life.

The novel is in first person; the chapters alternate between Echo and Noah's narration. Katie McGarry takes full advantage of this to show us the differences in the ways that Echo and Noah view each other, their relationship, their friends, Echo's father, and life. They very rarely agree on anything immediately, and the alternating chapters make it clear to the reader when they are interpreting events and the motivations of other characters through their own biased lens. For example, Echo sees her father as overbearing and controlling, and is convinced that he doesn't love her, but Noah sees him in quite a different way.

Some of the dialogue was a little stilted, and both narrators, but especially Noah, suffered from the oft-bemoaned YA cliché of mentioning eyes/hair/scent too much. I did roll my eyes every time someone's scent was mentioned, but then I always do because I almost never notice anyone's smell, and if it is them and not perfume, then it's terrible BO, cigarette smoke, or just a nice human-y smell. Not vanilla or cinnamon or woodsmoke!

In terms of plot, I have to admit that I guessed how things would work out for Echo and Noah at just a few chapters in, but there is so much else going on in this story besides the main plot that there were still plenty of small surprises, and the story is so convincing that I didn't mind at all. My only other criticism is that I didn't really get much of an impression of the town in which the story is set, but again, I don't really mind that much as the characterisation is so amazing, and as both a reader and a writer I treasure good characterisation above all else.

In short, Pushing the Limits is an incredible novel that far surpassed my expectations. It's rare that I read or watch or listen to a story and feel completely sure that the author knows every single one of her characters inside out, the way that Katie McGarry must do. I am thrilled that I already have Dare You To waiting on my TBR pile, and will look forward to her future work - hopefully she has a long and prolific career ahead of her!

Book Review: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, by Ally Carter

 

The students and teachers at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women pretend that the school is an exclusive private school in order to hide the fact that it's a government-funded institution, intended to train future spies. Cammie Morgan, the headmistress' daughter, enjoys every part of this charade until one night, on a practice mission, she meets a boy from the town who assumes that she is just as normal as he is. Cammie thinks he's cute. Her friends think he's a enemy agent. And her mother can't possibly be allowed to find out about their burgeoning relationship.

Looooooong title. Short book. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You is a quick, fun story set in a fabulously unusual school. I loved all the little details - from the lesson topics, to the mechanisms that disguise the building's real purpose when outsiders arrive. The mission scenes are exciting and funny and I really looked forward to the dramatic final operation. I also loved Cammie's friends - the mix of characters in the group is a bit of a YA cliche, but it works in whimsical stories like this, and they're all intelligent, hard-working, determined young women. I think Liz, the clumsy genius, is my favourite, but I suspect that my opinion is subject to change!

Cammie has a lot to juggle: secrets, feelings, and spy-schoolwork, and at times I felt like that the book jumped potentially interesting scenes. An example from the start of the book - Cammie skips over telling us about the homecoming of her school 'sisters' and why they stayed up all night, and I thought that could have been such a good scene. I also wanted more scenes featuring Cammie and her mum together, but I expect that their relationship is explored in more detail in the rest of the series. I didn't find Cammie's voice completely engaging, and as a result, I felt slightly distanced from her, but hopefully that will also improve.

I would recommend I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You to fans of boarding school stories, with a caveat to bear in mind - it's intended for the younger end of the teen market. There are a few serious moments, but for the most part, it's a gentle and light-hearted read.

Book Review: Spellbound, by Cara Lynn Shultz

Photo by Richard Hurd

After Emma Connor's stepfather nearly gets them both killed with his drunk driving, and she becomes the centre of school gossip, her aunt Christine offers her a place in her home and at the school she is on the board of, Vincent Academy in New York City. Emma gladly accepts, resolving to strive for a quiet life and tell none of her new classmates the truth about her past. But that plan gets thrown to the wayside when she meets Brendan Salinger. She thinks she just has a crush and nothing will come of it, but his interest in her becomes more and more obvious. Then she begins having vivid dreams, all set in past eras, in which she dies, and her twin brother Ethan, who died when they were fourteen, tries to warn her. As Emma follows the supernatural clues scattered all over their lives, she begins to fear that their growing love will lead to her death, again.

Spellbound is basically a Cinderella story - girl with tough family life gets rescued by fairy godmother (aka Aunt Christine) and introduced to handsome, wealthy prince (Brendan). The backbone of the novel is a cliche, but when the Mira Ink team described it as 'Gossip Girl with witches', I was intrigued, so with some trepidation I plucked Spellbound from the depths of my TBR stack.

I was pleasantly surprised. For the most part, Spellbound is an easygoing supernatural romance, but it has charm (pun intended) and a sprinkling of wit. I liked the characters, especially Emma, who narrates the story, her enthusiastic younger cousin, Ashley, and Angelique, the knowingly described school goth/witch. I enjoyed the silly friendship dramas, in which characters mostly just glare at each other across a room, and the insult-slinging, though I think Emma is a bit too judgemental when it comes to her arch-enemy Kristin's boy-obsessed nature. I also enjoyed the action scenes, especially the last one, which really had me on the edge of my (train) seat.

I was less convinced by the romance, but that's down to personal taste. Firstly, Brendan is not my type, partly because 'bad boys' do nothing for me, and partly because of his name. I hold my hands up and confess: Hollyoaks ruined the name 'Brendan' for me forever. Fans of the mustachioed one may disagree, but it is not a 'hot boy' name.

Secondly, it is heavy on the ol' instalove. If you hate instalove with an eternal, all-encompassing passion, you should probably avoid Spellbound, but if you only hate it some of the time, you might still enjoy Spellbound. The instalove here didn't irk me as much as it usually does because a) Emma and Brendan were lovers in their past lives, and b) Emma is aware of the potentially destructive influence Brendan has on her life. However, as I've said before, I do prefer to read about relationships that grow at a more moderate pace.

Although it is the first in a series, the ending is quite neat, and there are few clues as to where the plot will go from here. Until I read a preview of the second book, which is about the continued supernatural problems that Emma and Brendan have to face, I was hoping that it would have a different narrator. As much as I liked Emma, with her witty one-liners and seemingly endless supply of courage, I would happily leave her be to read a story from the point of view of Angelique, or Jenn, or somebody else at Vincent Academy. I'm not sure that I want to revisit the mind of loved-up Emma, because once she started dating Brendan, she became less interesting to me, repeatedly telling us how plain she feels in comparison to her super-attractive boyfriend, and describing his eyes. I  I don't think eye-obsessions are unrealistic, one of my closest friends (aged 28, I hasten to add) will happily blather on about her boyfriend's eyes for half an hour at a time. But I do find it annoying, so she is banned from mentioning the word 'eyes' in relation to her boyfriend (she tells me about her cat's eyes instead), and I struggled to resist skipping over all the eye descriptions in Spellbound.

Will I read Spellcaster, the sequel? Hopefully. I am keeping a open mind about this series. I did enjoy Spellbound, despite Brendan not being quite my type, and I want to find out what happens next.

Thank you to Mira Ink for the review copy. Please note that this review was based on an uncorrected proof.

How do you feel about instalove? Do you think it's acceptable in some stories, such as this one?

Book Review: The Iron King, by Julie Kagawa

Photo by Eamon Curry

Meghan Chase is not particularly excited about her sixteenth birthday. She doesn't expect her mother and stepfather to remember it, and she only has one friend at school, where she has never fitted in. But when she gets home, she finds her mother, bleeding and unconscious, and her brother Ethan is no longer the sweet, loving child that he has always been. She quickly learns that the child in the house is not Ethan at all but a faery changeling, and that she doesn't have much time to find Ethan and bring him home.

I had read a couple of reviews of Julie Kagawa's books before but only picked up The Iron King after I was given a copy at the MIRA Ink Blogger Party, where there was a live video call with Julie Kagawa. All the other bloggers there were thrilled and she came across as a really nice, friendly person so I knew I would have to read it before the year was out.

At first I found it a bit difficult to get into The Iron King. The story didn't immediately grab me the way that Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tale series did, and I found Meghan a little frustrating as she so easily accepted the meagre information that other characters gave to her about what she was getting herself into. I have the same problem with many books though - sometimes I find it unbelievable that a character wouldn't just refuse to get involved without all the information I would deem necessary. I made a similar comment in my review of Tithe.

However, about halfway through I was hooked. I love the idea of the Iron Fey, created when human's dreams shifted away from nature and towards science and technology. I also liked seeing how Meghan grew up and became a stronger person, and as the story that I think will be the centre of the series emerged, I felt myself settling in for the long haul!

I also really liked the contrast between the two love interests. Yes, there's a triangle, and ordinarily I'd be yawning at the merest whiff of one but I don't know which of the two guys I prefer yet! Also, it's really not that important to the story, at least not in The Iron King, and I hope it remains somewhat of a background detail and stays out of the major plot in the future books.

The characterisation was best for Puck and Ash, but they stand out from the rest of the fey with their morally ambigious natures. It's more difficult to figure them out than most of the other characters. I loved Grimalkin the best, however, and I hope he appears a lot in the other books. I can't tell what he wants, ultimately, but he is very funny and clever.

I am going to largely reserve my judgement until I have read the rest of the series, but I enjoyed The Iron King and would recommend that you give it a try if you've enjoyed other stories set in the world of the fey.

If you've already read amd loved The Iron King, some suggestions for you:

• Tithe, by Holly Black - another story about a faery changeling, but this time, the main character is the changeling

•  Ash, by Malinda Lo - a retelling of Cinderella in which she makes a deal with a powerful fairy, rather than being saved by a fairy godmother

Book Review: My Soul to Take, by Rachel Vincent

Photo by rfduck

One night Kaylee and her best friend Emma sneak their way into a nightclub. They're having a great time, until Kaylee feels the urge to scream rising up her throat. She is convinced that one of the other girls dancing is about to die. Terrified, she leaves the building. The only one who can comfort her is Nash Hudson, one of the most popular boys at school, and his sudden interest in her is almost as confusing as the screaming.

She doesn't want him to find out the truth - this has happened before. Last time, she told her aunt and uncle about it, and they sent her to a mental health unit, where she was given drugs and not allowed to leave until she said she'd gotten over it, that her delusions were gone.  But when she confesses all, Nash seems to have an explanation...

I was originally drawn to My Soul to Take and the rest of the Soul Screamers series because it explores the banshee myth, and I was really intrigued to see how banshees could be placed into a teen fiction universe. I read a few positive reviews of the series, mostly from Jo at Once Upon a Bookcase, so I was quite looking forward to giving it a try, and happily I was given a copy at the MIRA Ink Blogger Party.

Kaylee is a thoughtful, strong-willed protagonist, who insists on pursuing the truth and won't take the easy way out. Nash doesn't have as vibrant a personality, but I'm sure he'll blossom in later novels, especially as his rivalry with Ted develops. The characterisation of the supporting cast was really good considering that this is a pretty short novel and there are quite a lot of secondary characters. I really liked Uncle Brendon, Aunt Val, Ted, and Emma. I didn't like Sophie, Kaylee's spoilt cousin, but I enjoyed disliking her and found her character convincing.

I did guess what Kaylee's dad's big reveal was going to be, but, despite various clues along the way, I didn't suspect what the final twists would be. At times the pacing is a bit off and it seemed to speed up a lot more towards the end, but I think pacing in a novel like this must be really hard. It's the first in a series of seven books, so Rachel Vincent had to give a realistic amount of information to the reader but also keep a lot of secrets, and I think she managed this really well, though Kaylee did seem a bit too accepting at times.

I don't think My Soul to Take is a lifechanging, must-read kind of book, but I'm sure it's not supposed to be. It's fun, competently-written supernatural romance/drama, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. If you like supernatural fiction and would like a break from all the vampires and fairies, give this a try.

 

Book Review: Saving June, by Hannah Harrington

Photo by Natalia Balcerska Photography

Frustrated by the way her mother and aunt are dealing with the suicide of her sister June, Harper Scott and her best friend Laney plot to steal June's ashes and scatter them in California, where June dreamed of attending university. Jake Tolan's exact connection to June is a mystery, and he is annoyingly reluctant to share what he knows about June's last days, but he has a van, and is willing to risk getting into serious trouble. Against their better judgement, Harper and Laney agree to make the road trip with Jake.

I would describe Saving June as like an edgier Sarah Dessen novel. Harper's recent bereavement is the backbone of the story and of the characters' development, though there are other elements in the mix - music, sex, and a little politics. Music is particularly important, though apart from in a couple of mix-related places, it's not as vital to this story as it is in some other recent YA books, eg. If I Stay. Music in Saving June mostly just provides atmosphere, or a clue to character personalities.

This is very much a coming-of-age story, focusing on the way in which the three of them change and grow over the course of the road trip. There isn't a lot of plot, and although the characters were interesting and I enjoyed seeing their personal journeys, sometimes I wished for some external action to speed things up a bit. Not all Harper's family relationship issues are resolved, but I didn't have a massive problem with this - not everybody needs or wants to be close with and completely understood by their family.

I did find it a bit difficult to visualise the journey, but then I've never road-tripped in the USA, and I'm far from expert on international geography. The only thing I found really unconvincing is that although their primary goal is to get to California before they get caught, the group make a few detours without much conflict. It's small but I expected there to be some big arguments over this!

I would definitely recommend Saving June to fans of road trip novels and musical references - these are practically YA subgenres these days! I think Laney was my favourite character, and I find friendship dynamics really interesting. If Hannah Harrington writes another book, I would be especially keen to read it if it focused on a friendship.

There is more I could say about Saving June, but it would involve spoilers! If you've read Saving June and are desperate to discuss it in more detail, feel free to send me an e-mail - juliannelefay(at)gmail.com.

Book Review: That Summer, by Sarah Dessen

Photo by Jason Sturner

Haven has two weddings to attend, and she is not happy about either of them. The book opens as her sports news presenter father is marrying his colleague, meterologist Lorna Queen, and her sister Ashley is planning her wedding, which will take place at the end of the summer. Haven's mother has devoted herself to her garden, and Haven is worried about how quiet the house will become. Then Ashley's ex-boyfriend Sumner Lee returns to town, reminding Haven of a summer a few years before, when her parents were still together and she and Ashley were closer, when she was happier and everything felt more secure. Haven starts to spend more time with Sumner, but everything is not as it seems.

Sumner is a very intriguing character, offbeat and charming, and I thought that Haven's love/hate relationship with her sister was very well described - Ashley is self-assured but also frequently irritating and her motives and decisions are as unclear to us as they are to Haven. I was also really drawn into the side-stories with Haven's best friend, Casey, and the Lakeview Mall Models.

I liked that Sarah Dessen makes you think the book is about one thing, but it turns out to be about something quite different. However, I thought that the execution was a bit muddled. I can see how some readers have been disappointed, especially after reading her later novels. It's not that That Summer is bad, but as teen novels go, it's quite average, and in comparison to Last Chance, the first Sarah Dessen book that I read, it lacks spark and flows awkwardly. Haven is quite a passive character for much of the book - she goes along with everything that happens and doesn't ask for explanations - and it seemed to take a very long time for events to build towards a conclusion and for Haven to get angry and find out the truth.

It's interesting to see where Sarah Dessen started, but I didn't enjoy it as much as Last Chance. I would still recommend That Summer, though if you've never read any Sarah Dessen books before it's probably best to start with one of her more popular titles. I'm looking forward to reading more of her later novels, particularly Just Listen, which so many bloggers have loved.

Book Review: The Dud Avocado, by Elaine Dundy

Photo by andyket

Sally Jay Gorce tried and failed to run away several times in her teens, until her rich, understanding and partly-wise uncle promised her that if she finished college (that's university, in non-US English) he would allow her two years to do whatever she pleases, totally funded by him. The only condition is that she doesn't contact him during that time. Sally Jay heads for Paris, with the vague ambition to become an actress, and otherwise to go to parties and enjoy her freedom.

I love Sally Jay's voice. She's funny and knowing and clever and yet manages to delude herself about the intentions of men she likes. I love the backstory to her living in Paris, and she's decadent in a way that I find addictive in fictional characters - dying her hair pink and wearing evening dresses in the morning/early afternoon. She can't resist a party but she loathes the preconceptions other people have about her. She is done with education but wants to be an actress. She never thinks about what she will do when her subsidised freedom ends, and I liked that. I always worry about the future so it was nice to take a holiday inside the mind of someone without those concerns.

The Dud Avocado probably doesn't seem as feminist to us now as it would have done when it was originally published, but thinking about the stereotype of a Fifties woman and comparing that to Sally Jay makes what she gets up to seem quite shocking! There are a few more overt feminist touches - when Jim assumes that Sally Jay can cook just because she's a woman, I laughed. It's a ridiculous notion, but one that was probably quite prevalent in the fifties.

The story comes to rather a sudden halt, and if you prefer novels to have an obvious beginning, middle, and end (no criticism intended - I generally do), you might feel disappointed by the ending. However, as a fictionalised memoir, there never really is a strong, clear, plotline, so it's easier to forgive than it might be for a novel that was purely fiction, though I still felt that the narrator's life gets tidied up a bit too neatly.

I'm not sure how this book found its way onto my TBR. I think Sarra Manning might have mentioned it at some point. Maybe in the back of Nobody's Girl. I don't have a copy handy to check. In any case, I'm glad it did and I'll definitely be giving Elaine Dundy's other novels and autobiography a go!

The Dud Avocado was included in the Virago Modern Classics Designer Collection, and I'm quite tempted to get this fabric-covered hardback edition, if just because it would look so nice next to my copy of The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter...

Book Review: Where She Went, by Gayle Forman

Where She Went is a sequel and this review will contain spoilers for the first book, If I Stay.

Photo by Alexis Fam Photography

It's three years after Mia's accident, shortly after which Mia left Adam behind and moved on to life as a virtuoso violinist at Juillard. Adam has become a celebrity - a rock star with an actress girlfriend. But he is far from happy, suffering from anxiety and having fallen out with his bandmates.

Then Adam has one night to himself in New York City before he goes on tour, and almost by chance, he goes to see Mia perform. She invites him backstage and as they both have one last night in the city before they go to separate corners of the world, they decide to spend it together. But they can't avoid discussing the painful past.

There were definitely things I liked about Where She Went. I was interested to find out how Mia coped with life after the accident, and how Adam failed to cope. I thought that Where She Went was a good exploration of the ways that people deal with traumatic events and build their futures afterwards. I loved Mia as a character because she seems so real. She's kind and loving but she's not a pushover or a doormat - she's really strong and she takes care of herself first. I think in that way she's a role model for all of us. I felt so sad for Adam, but hopeful that he could turn things around. I was rooting for them to work out where they had gone wrong, and to heal themselves and each other. There is a really strong emotional journey that the characters - particularly Adam - go through, and as a reader I was taken along for the ride, starting off depressed by the way Adam has changed and going through his following emotional ups and downs with him. I also liked the way that music tied everything together - music was also a pivotal part of If I Stay and one of my favourite things about it.

However.

I have this issue with books and paranormal activities. I can read fantasy novels, urban fantasy, paranormal, magical realism, etc, no problem. But when a book with some ambigious paranormal activity (I'll call it 'magic' from here on out) suddenly becomes unambigious, it can fall flat for me. If something's happening and we don't know if it's magic or if someone's imagining it, I don't mind the suspense. If it becomes clear that it is supposed to be magic and there's a proper explanation after that point, that's fine. If there's no explanation, if we're just supposed to accept the existence of this magic - then I become uncomfortable and usually dislike the rest of the book.

It's really hard to explain this without spoilers. But basically, I think that although I had no problem suspending my disbelief when reading If I Stay, where the whole conceit of the novel is that Mia's disembodied spirit is watching her family and friends' reactions to the accident, when that idea got taken outside of that one novel and introduced to the 'real world' in Where She Went, I had problems suspending my disbelief.

Also, although I liked the idea of it all happening over just 24 hours, in practice I wasn't sure all those revelations and decisions were realistic. I think that in reality people separated like Mia and Adam would need to take more time to rebuild their connection than they do.

After I finished and adored If I Stay, I couldn't wait to read the sequel. I don't think I could have stopped and never read Where She Went. I wanted more. Yet it turned out that I didn't need more. It's not that I disliked Where She Went, I just think that it was was unnecessary for me. Not unnecessary full stop by any means, just unnecessary for me. It was, as I said above, interesting to read, but I didn't believe it the same way I believed If I Stay.

Maybe it's merely a clash of personality and book. Plenty of other readers have loved Where She Went, and odds are you will too. I am still looking forward to reading Gayle Forman's previous and future books. But if your reader's mind works like mine - you're not alone.



Two reviews that I read prior to Where She Went:
Fluttering Butterflies (with author interview)
So Many Books, So Little Time

Book Review: Bright Young Things, by Anna Godbersen

Photo by Sweet Carolina Design & Photo

I was really excited when I won a copy of Bright Young Things in a competition at Chicklish. I love reading about the 1920s, so I was delighted by the prospect of a new YA series set during that time (I'm also really excited about Libba Bray's The Diviners and Jillian Larkin's The Flappers series, of course). I knew that the same author wrote the 'The Luxe' series, which I'd been meaning to try. 'The Luxe' was described as 'Gossip Girl set in the 19th Century' by a Grazia reviewer so I wasn't expecting anything world changing from Bright Young Things. I was expecting it to be a fun read, but one that wouldn't wow me, and that's exactly what I got.

I adored the atmosphere and all the period details. I thought the author captured the spirit of the age and how excited the girls would be to live through it. There were plenty of descriptions of parties and speakeasies and fashions, and I did love the characters' names and the descriptions of clothes but all the repetitive descriptions of hair and eyes started to really annoy me after a while. The prose gets quite purple in places when the author is needlessly reminding us how beautiful her protagonists are - hair halos heads and skin is glowing and eyes are sparkling far too frequently.  By the end it seems like the contrast between Letty's big blue eyes and dark hair is mentioned everytime she enters a scene or the narration starts to follow her again, and to use an appropriate idiom, it's a bore.

In terms of the plot and characterisation - I could predict what was going to happen easily and I didn't really love any of the characters, though Astrid and her mother Virginia did make me laugh with their cynical frivolity and love of drama, especially in later chapters. Although I was hoping for good things for Letty, she was lazy, naïve, and a little thoughtless. Everything happens a bit too easily for Cordelia and I could see so many places where the author could have made things a bit trickier for her and introduced complications. If her father was so pleased to see her, why didn't he come for her years ago?

Yet despite all these flaws, as I said above I did enjoy the book, and  I will read the second in the series, Beautiful Days - actually, I've already read the preview pages!

If you can't stand purple prose or require great depth from all your reading material, I would skip Bright Young Things. But if you want an enjoyable bit of escapism, give it a try, especially if you like all things 1920s.

Book Review: Bunheads, by Sophie Flack

Photo by Ollie Crafoord

Nineteen year old Hannah has devoted almost her entire life so far to dancing. Now a member of the corps de ballet at the Manhattan Ballet, she spends her nights onstage and her days exercising and practicing in the hopes of becoming an ever better dancer. She dreams of being selected for a solo role - the first step on the path to promotion.

But then she meets Jacob, a cute boy and a 'pedestrian' - a non-dancer. As Hannah spends time with him, outside the theatre, she starts to wonder if she is really cut out to be as dedicated a dancer as she planned.

I was really excited about reading Bunheads for three reasons. Firstly, I was fascinated by ballet when I was a child - mostly because of the costumes. Secondly, the protagonist is nineteen, which is unusually old for teen/young adult fiction. Finally, the blurb mentions that Jacob plays guitar and I just can't resist cute fictional musicians.

I wasn't disappointed by Bunheads, though it wasn't quite what I expected. The ballet scenes definitely lived up to my expectations, especially the dressing room scenes. I loved reading about the rivalries and tension between the dancers at different levels. The dancers have to deal with jealousy and the need to be competitive, even against their friends and other dancers they admire. I think that Sophie Flack chose a good range of personalities to include in Hannah's dressing room cohort. I was really intrigued by wealthy Zoe and excitable, easily-panicked Daisy.

I learned several things about ballet that I didn't know before, for instance, how dancers break in their pointe shoes, and that was very cool.

I also really liked the way that Hannah developed as a character and progression toward the decision she makes in the end. I had been a little bit afraid, before I started reading Bunheads, that it would be a story about a woman who gives up her career for romance (there are far too many of those going around), but my fears were not realised. In fact - and this is where my expectations divulged from what the novel delivered - the romance wasn't that big of a factor in Hannah's mind or in the plot. Jacob is the one that gives Hannah the idea that maybe she's missing out on something, but she doesn't do what she does for him, she does it for herself. I was pleased with that.

The only thing I found a little out of place was that although supposedly Hannah has little time for activities outside of ballet, she does a fair bit of designer-name-dropping and says that she found particular outfits in a thrift store. She doesn't mention fashion as being one of her interests, yet the inclusion of these details suggests that it is. This is only a minor niggle though and I probably only noticed it because I'm into clothes myself and know how time consuming 'thrifting' (as they call it in the US of A) can be.

I would recommend Bunheads to anyone who's ever had an interest in dance. It's not a novel that revolves around romance but I'm sure plenty of readers would really like Jacob. I'm really intrigued to find out what Sophie Flack writes about next, especially as it seems like Bunheads was at least partly autobiographical!

Thank you to Atom Books for providing me with a review copy.

Book Review: Real Live Boyfriends, by E. Lockhart

This book is the fourth in a series and therefore this review will inevitably contain spoilers for the first book, The Boyfriend List, the second, The Boy Book, and the third, The Treasure Map of Boys.

Ruby Oliver is nearly out of the Tate universe! Just one more year to go, and it would be a breeze, if she could control her panic attacks. She knows what she wants to study at university, and she knows what boy she's in love with. Noel is now her real live boyfriend.

Until he becomes a pod-robot.

Real Live Boyfriends was a lot sadder and a lot more serious than any of its predecessors in the Ruby Oliver series, however, it was also much more funny. I actually laughed out loud several times and if you'd like a preview of the hilariousness (and also, the sadness), check out this video of E. Lockhart reading from one of the early chapters:



Real Life Boyfriends is about the reality of romantic relationships and the nature of love. But it's also about pygmy goats, financial woes, dramatic parental reactions, movies, lists (mostly of movies), and above all, friendship.

I especially liked the way that Ruby's views on the last item on that list, friendship, develop. Ruby has been, up until now, a girl obsessed with her own social status. Even before she became a 'social leper and famous slut', she was very aware of where she fitted in. Her group with Kim, Nora and Cricket was not really popular, not really cool, but not on the fringes either. Since the debacle of junior year she's had to decide a) where she fits in, and b) whether she actually cares about the opinions of most of the other students at Tate Prep.

Towards the end of The Treasure Map of Boys, Ruby got over Jackson for once and for all, delivering a putdown that you know I loved if you highlighted the text at the bottom of my review, and that helps set her free. In Real Live Boyfriends Ruby interviews her friends to find out how they would define love and/or friendship for her film project, and the answers she gets clearly influence her decisions and self-esteem.

I loved the way all the characters developed in this novel, with the except of Ruby's mum, Elaine, she just goes scarily off the rails. But Noel, Hutch, Nora, and especially Meghan develop into ever more rounded and grown-up people. In the previous books, we've mostly known Meghan only from Ruby's impression of her and what Ruby says everyone else thinks about her, but in this one, she really comes into her own. I think Meghan becomes a GODDESS in Real Live Boyfriends, I really do.

Meghan and Ruby's scenes are my favourites, along with the really cute scene with Noel and Ruby at the start of chapter three. Oh, Noel. As I say in a slightly different way in every Ruby Oliver book review, be real and eight years older and my real live boyfriend, please.

If I said anything about the ending of Real Live Boyfriends I'd spoil it but I thought it was appropriate for Ruby's character and I was mostly just sad that the Ruby Oliver Quartet had come to an end. I really have loved reading this series and the lessons Ruby learns throughout have made a real difference to the way I see the world. The Ruby Oliver books will probably remain one of my favourite series for the rest of my life.

Book Review: The Book of Blood and Shadow, by Robin Wasserman

When Nora decided to swap school classes for the Latin translation project at the local university, she didn't expect it to take over her life. It was just a way to get out of school for a few hours a week, to add something extra to her college applications, and to spend more time with her best friend Chris. But when she is assigned the letters written by Elizabeth Weston, stepdaughter of the alchemist Edward Kelley, to her brother, she finds herself fascinated by Elizabeth's life, the decisions she has to make, and her attempts to carry out her father's wishes and build the Lumen Dei - a machine that, according to myth, is a direct line to God. Nora doesn't believe a word of it, of course, but it's interesting, and she's falling for one of the other students, sweet, quiet, Max.

Nora and her colleagues are not the only one fascinated by the project. Firstly, their professor suffers a stroke that may not have been natural - an ambiguous warning that they do not heed. Then comes the night that changes everything. Nora arrives at Chris' house to find him dead and his girlfriend Adriane in some kind of waking coma. Max has fled the scene, the prime suspect in the murder. Nora is sure that her gentle boyfriend couldn't have done it, and she is determined to solve the mystery of the Lumen Dei and clear his name.

The Book of Blood and Shadow has been described as a YA version of The Da Vinci Code which made me feel quite apprehensive about picking it up, because I've never read The Da Vinci Code nor do I have any desire to! But it has such a pretty cover and Atom kindly sent me a review copy, so I decided to give it a chance.

I immediately liked Nora's narration. She's quite a serious teenager, but she's still got a definite voice. It's quite surly, and at times she can be a bit self-pitying, but not so often that it's hard to read. I think the style of the narration will definitely appeal more to older readers. I also really liked the supporting characters, although I wanted to get to know them better than the novel allowed me to, especially Eli. One thing that bothered me was that all of the parents were conveniently incompetent or distracted by their own emotional problems, and I know that the lack of parental interruptions made the plot move faster, but it felt unrealistic to me. I was intrigued by Nora's dad and I would have liked to have seen more of him.

I also really liked the translation element to the story, it helped to push the plot forward and kept me interested. Like Nora, I really wanted to uncover the story of Elizabeth Weston and the choices she made, in fact, I was more intrigued by Elizabeth than by her project, the Lumen Dei.

It was pretty easy to keep reading, because although none of the plot developments took me by surprise, I really wanted to know how everything would be explained in the end. I enjoyed The Book of Blood and Shadow a lot, but I have to admit to being dissatisfied by the book's conclusion. The speed at which the climactic scenes flew by made the book seem top-heavy, and not enough was explained - I'm referring to the Lumen Dei in particular.

If the ending of The Book of Blood and Shadow is a door, I would say that it's left slightly ajar. There's no obvious route for a sequel to take, but Nora's conclusions seem shaky and there's a lot that she could be wrong about. I probably would read a sequel, if it contained some good explanations! And more Prague.

For some spoilery thoughts on the Lumen Dei, highlight below. If you don't want to read it and you're a subscriber, you should probably scroll down really fast just in case!

So how does it work? The blood goes in and then how does the light/fire appear? There's no way I can think of that this machine would do anything without divine intervention, but Nora doesn't think about this at all! And that really bothered me. Okay, if she saw the mechanism and could tell that it was capable of doing what it did, that'd be one thing. But she couldn't (to be fair she gave about two glances worth of description) so are we supposed to believe that it was God that made it do its thing? And if so, why does Nora not think about the fact that she has seen proof of God's existence afterwards? Regardless of whether she thinks God is great or not, she can't exactly carry on being an atheist after that.

Book Review: The Treasure Map of Boys, by E. Lockhart

Photo by ohdarling

This book is the third in a series and therefore this review will inevitably contain spoilers for the first book, The Boyfriend List, and the second, The Boy Book.

If you thought Ruby Oliver’s life was complicated and dramatic before, just you wait.

It gets worse.

This term, Ruby has to:

Become Noel’s bodyguard
Continue trying to be friends with Nora whilst Nora is crushing on Noel
Attempt to evade her mother’s fashion choices
Run a bake sale
Deal with losing her job
Finish her therapy ‘treasure map’ homework
and make a decision about Jackson, who has broken up with Kim, and is taking an interest in Ruby again.

Ruby’s panic attacks are also getting more and more frequent, which was interesting to see her deal with, especially because they are increasingly happening when other people have put her in a difficult position and she doesn’t know how to deal with it. You could argue that in The Boyfriend List, some of Ruby’s problems were her own fault. Yes, she found it difficult to think straight after Jackson broke up with her and got together with Kim, but most of the drama would never have happened if she hadn’t kissed Jackson at the Spring Fling. By this time, Ruby is definitely trying to consider other people’s feelings, what she wants, and how to get it, as Doctor Z reminds her to do.

This means that she starts to stand up for herself and decide what rules she wants to live by, rather than going along with everyone else’s. It was fantastic to see Ruby taking on more responsibility and really starting to be more assertive, making decisions, and telling people how they made her feel. When she was working on the bake sale she even reminded me a little of Frankie Landau-Banks, who, as anyone who has read The Disreputable History... will know, has no problem making decisions and taking action.

I also loved Ruby’s devotion to using the word ‘spankin’, and her fondness for Robespierre, the pygmy goat. I also thought that it was great that we got to learn a little bit more about Dr Z., who has only appeared in Ruby’s therapy scenes in the previous two books. I also, as usual, loved the boys! Noel behaves a bit badly but is still generally wonderful, Finn is really cute (in fact I'm thinking that I might like Finn as much as Noel! Gasp!), and just wait until you meet Polka-dot (heehee)!

I thought that The Treasure Map of Boys was just as good as The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book, if not better. I’m really looking forward to reading Real Live Boyfriends, the last in the Ruby Oliver quartet, especially as it deals with the topic of what love actually is. 

If you’ve read The Treasure Map of Boys, highlight below to read some brief thoughts about my favourite part of the entire novel, and please feel free to comment. If you're reading on an RSS feed this may not work so click away now if you haven't read the novel!

‘I’m sure you have feelings, Jackson,’ I told him. ‘I just don’t think they’re very deep.’

Reader, I punched the air. What a put down! And so true. Not that I think it’s entirely Jackson’s fault. I mean, obviously he behaves terribly, and doesn’t treat his girlfriends properly. He cheats and declares love when he obviously doesn’t feel it. But it’s not his fault if he’s not cut out to do the love thing, if his feelings for others don’t run that deep. He just needs to realise this, get some independence so he’s not using girls to prop up his ego, and have casual relationships with girls/women who are fully aware of what they are getting into. But still! Go Ruby!

(I told you it would be brief)

Book Review: The Boy Book, by E. Lockhart

 Love that face. Photo by richardghawley

Social leper and famous slut Ruby Oliver is back at Tate Prep for junior year ¹, and whilst trying to make amends with her former friends, get through therapy, and decide what boy she’s interested in, she has further potential debacles to deal with, such as:

Being friends with Meghan
Choosing an activity for November Week²
Being able to afford the activity for November Week
A new job at the Zoo
Protecting Nora from boys who want to pass topless photos of her around the school
and Meghan’s relationship problems.

Of course I loved The Boy Book! I’ve actually read it twice – after I got The Treasure Map of Boys for Christmas, I couldn’t resist a re-read so that I was properly prepared. Ruby’s adventures continue to enthral me, and whilst reading The Boy Book I developed even more of a crush on Noel than I had before. If you want to talk ships, I am definitely on the Ruby and Noel boat. I just loved reading their Hooter Rescue Squad e-mails. I also liked finding more out about Meghan, Tate Prep in general, and Ruby’s former friendship with Kim, Nora and Cricket. It was great to see Ruby try to make wiser decisions and be a better friend. Also, I really want to go on my own Canoe Island trip.

Each chapter begins with an excerpt from The Boy Book, a guide to boykind created by Ruby and her former friends, Kim, Cricket and Nora. It was mentioned briefly in The Boyfriend List and I think it works really well to tie the two novels together and to reminds us how Ruby feels about having lost the friendships she used to have.

If you enjoyed The Boyfriend List I’m sure you’ll love The Boy Book – it’s basically more of the same, which is why writing this review is so hard. I’ve already gushed over the wonders of the setting, Ruby’s parents, etc, in my review of The Boyfriend List, so check it out if you need more convincing to read the Ruby Oliver series.

Read an except from The Boy Book and other related information.
Jo's review at Once Upon a Bookcase
Clover's review at Fluttering Butterflies




¹ Which I think is the third/second-to-last year of high school? Somebody American correct me if I’m wrong please!

² An outdoors themed week at Tate Prep in which participation is compulsory.

Book Review: The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

Trailer for the film.

The Princess Bride is two stories in one. Firstly, it purports to be an abridgement of 'S. Morgenstern''s 'classic tale of true love and high adventure' in which Buttercup, the most beautiful lady in the world, thinking her true love Westley is dead, agrees to marry Prince Humperdink, who only wants to kill her and frame another country for her death so that he can have a war. Secondly, it is the story of how the original relates to the narrator's life, the narrator being a fictionalised version of the author, William Goldman. In addition, the 25th Anniversary edition includes an introduction, and a first chapter from the sequel, both of which include a lot of detail about fictional legal battles and problems with publishers.

I was really looking forward to reading this book because I enjoyed the film, and because fairy tales are one of my greatest obsessions. My reactions to the book were inconsistent though - sometimes I was loathe to put it down because I thought what I was reading was particularly fun or clever, but at other times I rolled my eyes and wondered what the point of it all was. It wasn't that I loved the fairy tale parts and hated the parts that were supposedly explaining how the 'original' The Princess Bride related to the author's life, like many reviewers seem to. My favourite parts were from the fairy tale - the climb of and battles on the Cliffs of Insanity, because it was exciting, and the visit to Miracle Max, because it made me laugh. But the introductions and interjections from the narrator were interesting, although they could have been better, more concise, less repetitive. I could appreciate the satirical references to the publishing industry and academia.

Maybe I'm too much of a fairy tale fanatic to be wholly impressed with The Princess Bride. I've read so many great retellings, reworkings, parodies, and original stories that The Princess Bride just seems a bit clumsy in comparison. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy it, and that I wouldn't read it again. It is an enjoyable, slightly-subversive, take on the fairy tale genre. Yet it didn't have that spark that books I truly love have.

Book Review: Ironside, by Holly Black

Photo by Jon Mountjoy

This book is the third in a trilogy and therefore this review will inevitably contain spoilers for the first book, Tithe, and the second, Valiant.

On the darkest day of winter, Roiben will be crowned King of the Unseelie Court, and as terrible and terrifying as the Unseelie Court can be, Kaye can't resist going down to celebrate. Kaye's known that she is a faerie for a few months now, but the ways of the fey, especially the court customs, are mostly a mystery to her.

Just as they are to Cornelius Stone, who is still recovering from his sister's death and the time he spent in the Unseelie Court as the human pet of the former queen's knight, and later king, Nephamael. He's desperate to find out how to protect himself from the fey, so that they can never hurt him or his family again.

But whilst Corny is nervous and prepared, Kaye is rash and wild, and her official declaration of love to Roiben ends with her being given an impossible quest - to find a faerie that can lie. No such creature exists, and so Kaye is forbidden from even speaking to Roiben - a task that proves increasingly difficult as Silarial, Queen of the Seelie Court, is still determined to win the war and rule over Unseelie.

My favourite sequels are those that make me feel like I'm slipping comfortably into a familiar world, and I definitely felt that when I read the first few pages of Ironside. It's difficult to comment on the characterisation and world-building, because most of the characters and many of the locations were introduced in Tithe and Valiant, and Ironside provides more of the same atmosphere. I liked Kaye better, but I still didn't feel that I understood her as much as I understood Corny and Val. However, the plot was fantastic. It was a fun and satisfying conclusion to the trilogy of Modern Faerie Tales, and I was gripped the whole way through.

Although this series had a shaky start, the engrossing world, dark elements, and plot drew me in and kept me interested. I can see why these books, particularly the first one, have had mixed reviews, but if you like dark fantasy, and don't mind teenagers doing things that many adults would disapprove of, I would recommend the Modern Faerie Tales. I'm really looking forward to reading more from Holly Black in the future.

Book Review: grl2grl, by Julie Anne Peters

Photo by ilouque

grl2grl is a collection of short stories about LGBT characters, mostly girls, hence the title, grl2grl. There are ten stories in the collection, and each is very different from the next, dealing with a range of issues, from coming out to being dumped, abuse to abstinence-only education. I often describe short stories as being either complete stories or snapshots from a character's life, and there are both kinds here. Julie Anne Peters tries to give each character a distinct personality, and I think that she succeeded, although the narrative styles are quite similar in some of the stories.

My favourites were 'Can't Stop The Feeling', which is about a girl who is trying to pluck up the courage to go to a meeting of the Gay/Straight Alliance group at her school, 'TIAD', about a girl who has just been dumped and goes online to a chatroom for advice and companionship, a story I really liked as I thought it was quite original - and 'Two-Part Invention', about a violinist who's in love with the cellist she plays with at summer music camp. I just love musician stories.

I don't think that every story should have had a dramatic impact - the presence of happy endings and sad endings and ambiguous endings makes the collection more interesting - but some of the stories I liked less were a bit too much like a tiny snippet from a life, with nothing really happening in them. Overall, however, the insight into the minds of the characters was compelling and sometimes really affecting.

It's a very American book, a lot of the things referred to don't really exist this side of the pond - I have only heard of a couple of schools with Gay/Straight Alliance groups here, and there are only a couple of summer camp organisations. But if you've watched American teen movies then this shouldn't cause much of a problem.

I think that in a perfect world, every library would have a copy of grl2grl. I think it's one of those books with the power to make troubled teenagers feel as if they're not alone, and as the stories are indeed short, it would be great for reluctant readers. My only complaint would be that it's such a skinny little volume, and it left me wanting to read more from the author. But that's fine, as she's already written novels!

Book Review: Valiant, by Holly Black

Photo by cosmicautumn

This book is the second in a trilogy and therefore this review may contain spoilers for the first book, Tithe.

Val has a quick temper and a tendency to respond to insults violently, but when she walks in on the worst of all insults, and sees her boyfriend and her mother kissing and getting undressed, all she can think to do is get away. She goes to the hockey game that was supposed to be a date, and then she doesn't go back. Homeless in New York City, she meets friendly, strange Lolli, and Dave, her infatuated friend. Lolli is immediately welcoming, Dave is more reluctant, and his brother, Luis, is against Val's presence from the start. Luis is guarding a secret, one it turns out Lolli is all too happy to blab - Luis can see faeries, and works running errands for one, a troll. Lolli is addicted to a mysterious faerie drug, and also all too happy to lead Val into the troll's lair...

The troll, Ravus, is an exile from the Seelie court, which is how Valiant ties in with Tithe, and it does so beautifully, introducing a vivid new cast of characters, and including brief appearances from Kaye, Roiben and Silarial. The story is tightly focused around Val and her development, which is realistic and appropriately paced, but it also firmly advances the plot of the trilogy. 

Like Tithe, Valiant is laden with atmosphere. Yet in terms of build up, Valiant is the opposite of Tithe. I felt it was almost too slow to get going into the plot, although I could appreciate the proper introduction that we got to Val's character, after the rush that was Tithe and my discomfort with Kaye's characterisation. I think that the pacing and characterisation in general were much better than in Tithe. The motivations of the characters were definitely clearer.

Another way in which Valiant is dramatically different to Tithe is that whereas Kaye and Roiben's romance had a bit of a whiff of the ol' insta-love about it, the romance that develops in Valiant is more like slowly burning lust that turns into love. I also liked that the romance wasn't the whole of the plot, in fact most of the time there wasn't any romance, as Val was focused on trying to avoid her previous life. I'm trying not to spoil the plot but Valiant is billed as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and it's the only retelling of Beauty and the Beast I have liked thus far, being devoid of Stockholm Syndrome, which I can't stand. Give me insta-love any day of the week over Stockholm Syndrome. Or better yet, give me Valiant, which has neither. Hurrah.

On the subject of plot - it was totally gripping, I loved it! Valiant had me doing something I hadn't done in a long time - staying up late to finish the book! I just could not bear to consider sleep until it was done. All in all, I thought Valiant was a brilliant second book, it left me desperate to read Ironside and find out what happened to our motley heroes in the end.

Valiant is definitely a book for older teens - it's got swearing, sex, and the consumption of fairy drugs. Plus plenty of other stuff some parents may disapprove of, like teenagers with dyed hair and piercings. To me, all this stuff makes a book a must-read, but your mileage may vary...