Well, it is a couple of weeks late but here are my reviews of the books I've read recently.
Novel #4
Title: Abandon
Author: Meg Cabot
Grade: B
Brief Summary: Pierce used to be a smart, driven, popular teenage girl before she died. But when she came back to life, everything changed. Her parents divorced, her best friend died, and now Pierce's mother has moved her to a little island in the Florida Keys. But moving isn't going to help Pierce escape from him, John Hayden, her personal reminder of her brush with death. A modern retelling of the Persephone and Haydes myth.
Review: Meg Cabot has always been a favorite author of mine. She is well known for writing two types of teen novels: quirky, light, romantic comedy type stories (such as The Princess Diaries series) and books that have mystical, supernatural elements but take place in the real world (The Mediator Series, 1-800-Where-R-U). This book definitely would fall under the latter category, but in an unsettling way. This book felt as though Cabot had two really good story ideas and she tried to mesh them together. The first idea is the retelling of the Persephone myth. Girl dies, King of the Underworld falls in love and holds her hostage, she escapes and he follows to protect her. That's basically the storyline, without giving anything away. So, that is a pretty cool idea, since most modern retellings these days are of fairy tales and tend to ignore the more mythical stories. The second idea is one for a great Young Adult problem novel. A girl dies but is revived and she comes back to find that her previously easy life is complicated. She has to deal with divorce, suicide, moving away from her childhood home, meeting new friends and starting a new life. I was very impressed with Meg's writing during these parts because never before have I read something of hers that was so angst driven and focused on teenage problems. It reminded me a lot of Laurie Halse Anderson and her works, and I was glad to see this shift in Meg's writing from teen romance to good, nitty gritty problem writing. The part where this story fell flat is when she tried to mesh these two ideas together. In theory, it should have worked, but in practice it didn't. I felt as though I were reading two very different stories but they were supposed to be a whole. It was unsettling, and I found that most of the time, whenever the mystical parts came in, I have completely forgotten about that part of the story and they came out of nowhere. I really hope that in her next two books (This is the first in a trilogy of books) Meg will tie it all together.
Title: Abandon
Author: Meg Cabot
Grade: B
Brief Summary: Pierce used to be a smart, driven, popular teenage girl before she died. But when she came back to life, everything changed. Her parents divorced, her best friend died, and now Pierce's mother has moved her to a little island in the Florida Keys. But moving isn't going to help Pierce escape from him, John Hayden, her personal reminder of her brush with death. A modern retelling of the Persephone and Haydes myth.
Review: Meg Cabot has always been a favorite author of mine. She is well known for writing two types of teen novels: quirky, light, romantic comedy type stories (such as The Princess Diaries series) and books that have mystical, supernatural elements but take place in the real world (The Mediator Series, 1-800-Where-R-U). This book definitely would fall under the latter category, but in an unsettling way. This book felt as though Cabot had two really good story ideas and she tried to mesh them together. The first idea is the retelling of the Persephone myth. Girl dies, King of the Underworld falls in love and holds her hostage, she escapes and he follows to protect her. That's basically the storyline, without giving anything away. So, that is a pretty cool idea, since most modern retellings these days are of fairy tales and tend to ignore the more mythical stories. The second idea is one for a great Young Adult problem novel. A girl dies but is revived and she comes back to find that her previously easy life is complicated. She has to deal with divorce, suicide, moving away from her childhood home, meeting new friends and starting a new life. I was very impressed with Meg's writing during these parts because never before have I read something of hers that was so angst driven and focused on teenage problems. It reminded me a lot of Laurie Halse Anderson and her works, and I was glad to see this shift in Meg's writing from teen romance to good, nitty gritty problem writing. The part where this story fell flat is when she tried to mesh these two ideas together. In theory, it should have worked, but in practice it didn't. I felt as though I were reading two very different stories but they were supposed to be a whole. It was unsettling, and I found that most of the time, whenever the mystical parts came in, I have completely forgotten about that part of the story and they came out of nowhere. I really hope that in her next two books (This is the first in a trilogy of books) Meg will tie it all together.
Novel #5
Title: This Lullaby
Author: Sarah Dessen
Grade: B+
Brief Summary: Remy is a skeptic when it comes to love. It isn't hard to see why when you look at her mother's previous four marriages, which includes the divorce from Remy's rock-star father. But this skepticism will be tested when she meets Dexter, a traveling musician who doesn't seem to get the message that Remy isn't interested in love. But when she starts to get to know Dexter and starts breaking all of her own rules of romance, will she become a believer, or will it just be another reason for her disbelief.
Review: Where Meg Cabot is known for her fun, light hearted teen romance books, Sarah Dessen is well known for being the best at capturing the ups and down of first love. Dessen is able to show that teenage love isn't always happy-go-lucky, but it can break your heart, and it can hurt. What I like about Sarah Dessen's books is that although the romantic storyline is always the headliner, there is always an underlying teen problem thrown in there as well. In this book, it's the issue of divorce and remarrying. Remy's mother in this book is marrying for the fifth time, and you see how it affects Remy and her brother Chris. Remy doesn't want to become like her mom, so she has become very scientific when it comes to relationships. She has rules and she knows exactly when it is the best time to get out. But this has left Remy without the ability to ever get close to anyone. The closest relationships that Remy has are with her girlfriends, and even then, she has those relationships figured out as well. She lives her life in a very organized, but cold way, as she sees that these little things will help her be in control. Enter in Dexter, the awkwardly delightful musician who at first seems like a total pain in her neck, but eventually turns out to be the one possible chance that Remy has for being in love. But because of seeing her mother's previous downfalls with love, it leaves her scared. I love how Sarah Dessen uses the underlying problem to feed into the headline problem, because she shows teens that yes, these things happen in life that we can't control, but we can't let them control our entire outlook on life. What I didn't like about this book is that it took a while to get into, and I find that with most of what I've read by Dessen. However, once you get to know the characters and you get the story, it's a fast read and is enjoyable. It'll leave you wondering what Remy will decide up until the very last moment.
It is going to be awhile before I post again, because for my next books, I'm reading a series, and I want to post them all together. But, hopefully I'll finish soon and there will be a post. Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave comments, I'd love to hear your opinions.
Title: This Lullaby
Author: Sarah Dessen
Grade: B+
Brief Summary: Remy is a skeptic when it comes to love. It isn't hard to see why when you look at her mother's previous four marriages, which includes the divorce from Remy's rock-star father. But this skepticism will be tested when she meets Dexter, a traveling musician who doesn't seem to get the message that Remy isn't interested in love. But when she starts to get to know Dexter and starts breaking all of her own rules of romance, will she become a believer, or will it just be another reason for her disbelief.
Review: Where Meg Cabot is known for her fun, light hearted teen romance books, Sarah Dessen is well known for being the best at capturing the ups and down of first love. Dessen is able to show that teenage love isn't always happy-go-lucky, but it can break your heart, and it can hurt. What I like about Sarah Dessen's books is that although the romantic storyline is always the headliner, there is always an underlying teen problem thrown in there as well. In this book, it's the issue of divorce and remarrying. Remy's mother in this book is marrying for the fifth time, and you see how it affects Remy and her brother Chris. Remy doesn't want to become like her mom, so she has become very scientific when it comes to relationships. She has rules and she knows exactly when it is the best time to get out. But this has left Remy without the ability to ever get close to anyone. The closest relationships that Remy has are with her girlfriends, and even then, she has those relationships figured out as well. She lives her life in a very organized, but cold way, as she sees that these little things will help her be in control. Enter in Dexter, the awkwardly delightful musician who at first seems like a total pain in her neck, but eventually turns out to be the one possible chance that Remy has for being in love. But because of seeing her mother's previous downfalls with love, it leaves her scared. I love how Sarah Dessen uses the underlying problem to feed into the headline problem, because she shows teens that yes, these things happen in life that we can't control, but we can't let them control our entire outlook on life. What I didn't like about this book is that it took a while to get into, and I find that with most of what I've read by Dessen. However, once you get to know the characters and you get the story, it's a fast read and is enjoyable. It'll leave you wondering what Remy will decide up until the very last moment.
It is going to be awhile before I post again, because for my next books, I'm reading a series, and I want to post them all together. But, hopefully I'll finish soon and there will be a post. Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave comments, I'd love to hear your opinions.
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