Salvation review

Salvation
by Anne Osterlund
Speak
January 2013

High school seniors Salvador Resendez and Beth Courant both struggle with family pressures and dream of leaving their tiny impoverished town where the only opportunity is working in the local onion factory. Salva’s father demands perfection from his son, to that prove leaving Mexico and creating a new life in America was worth it. Popular, funny Salva is determined not to let his family down the way that his college-dropout older brother has. Shy and clumsy bookworm Beth copes with her mother’s recovering alcoholism and wants to leave her trailer park home behind to attend a good college on a full scholarship. 

Forced to work together for a school project, Beth and Salva soon experience a tender connection that has them flirting over Shakespeare in this modern Romeo and Juliet story. A melodramatic ending leaves their parents realizing that star-crossed lovers Beth and Salva have been a good influence on each other after all, as Beth encourages Salva to defy his father and attend Yale’s pre-law program. Readers looking for a gentle story of first romance will enjoy this sweet offering.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

This review originally appeared in School Library Journal.

Cover Flip video

Author Maureen Johnson is calling for fans to re-imagine book covers, making "girly" books appeal to guys and books for guys look more feminine. Here's a Huffington Post video about it:

The Silver Bowl review

The Silver Bowl
by Diane Stanley
Harper Collins
April 2011

First line: "I was sent away to work when I was very young."

Molly has been working as a scullery maid at Dethemere Castle since the tender age of seven. With a sickly mother and harsh, uncaring dad, she grows up like a wild urchin on the streets. It isn't until she has a disturbing vision of the future and arouses their neighbors' suspicions that her father finally remembers to send her off packing.

The hustle and bustle of a medieval city, including dirt and disease almost make this book feel like historical fiction. It's just a few touches of magic which carry the story into fantasy. While at the castle, she befriends Tobias, aka "Donkey Boy."

Molly gradually settles into a comfortable routine at the castle, but when she's promoted to help polish the silver, she finds one particularly grand silver bowl seems to act as a focus for her visions. Alaric, the spoiled prince, is caught up in a dangerous plot to remove his family from the throne and Molly and Tobias find themselves on a grand adventure to protect him. Molly is practical and smart - despite her poverty, the early death of her mother and the long hours of hard work she endures at such a young age, she never really complains. While marketed as YA this book has more of a middle-grade feel.

Compare to:
The Princess Curse - Merrie Haskell
The Thirteenth Princess - Diane Zahler
The Princess Academy - Shannon Hale
Ronia, the Robber's Daughter - Astrid Lindgren

I borrowed this book from the library.

Vampire Academy review

Vampire Academy
by Richelle Mead
Razorbill
August 2007

First line: "I felt her fear before I heard her screams."

In the first book of this series, Lissa Dragomir and Rose Hathaway return to St. Vladimir's Academy after a two-year absence. I love the way this book drops you into the middle of the story.

The Vampire Academy series features several different subtypes of vampires. Vampirism is passed on genetically. Moroi tend to be slender and somewhat fragile. They can survive in sunlight, although it does make them very weak. They have to drink human blood every couple of days in order to keep up their strength, but they don't kill in order to do so. Each Moroi has an elemental affinity and is able to wield magic. Dhampirs, on the other hand, are half-human, half-vampire. Dhampirs have unusual strength, but they can only bear children by Moroi, and their offspring will always be dhampir. Most male dhampirs swear fealty to a particular Moroi and protect them as bodyguards. Many female dhampirs take on work as "blood whores" trading sexual services, and donating blood to Moroi for the high that it gives them. Dhampirs are treated by their Moroi counterparts as trusted servants as best, and second class citizens at worst. Finally, the Strigoi are former Moroi who have gone to the dark side. They are immortal, enjoy killing humans, harassing Moroi, and are recognizable by their pale skin and red-rimmed eyes.

Unbeknownst to anyone else, Moroi princess Lissa actually has the very rare elemental ability of "Spirit" allowing her to share a one-way psychic link with her best friend Rose, the dhampir that Lissa hopes will be assigned as her bodyguard when she graduates. Lissa's affinity for Spirit gives her the power to heal and use compulsion, but also subjects her to deep depressions. Sarcastic, funny, dhampir Rose's loyalties are torn between her needy friend Lissa and hunky Dimitri, her fight instructor. Rose is also covering up the fact that she's experiencing mild withdrawals from the high she got when provided blood (a deeply shameful activity) to her friend Lissa while they were on the run. In the meantime, Lissa is stealing her arch-rival Mia's boyfriend Andrew for the social prestige, even though she'd rather be with moody Christian. When Lissa is kidnapped by powerful Moroi politician Victor (who hopes to cash in on her healing abilities) Rose must use her psychic ability to save Lissa.

Mead's trinity of vampire races, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and her inventive return to the Romanian and Russian roots of vampire lore gives us a fresh take on the genre. Rose is a strong character who is struggling to balance duty and friendship. Part high-school intrigue, part kick-ass adventure, I'm enjoying this whole series.


I borrowed this book from the library.

Read in April 2013

This month I read the following the books:

1. Glamour in Glass - Mary Robinette Kowal
2. I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had - Tony Danza
3. Alex Ko: From Iowa to Broadway, My Billy Elliot Story - Alex Ko
4. Out of the Easy - Ruta Sepetys
5. Crossed - Ally Condie
6. Possession - Elena Johnson
7. Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches From the Front-Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture - Peggy Orenstein


Picture credit: Reading Girl by Alphonse Mucha

10 Topics that Make Me Pick Up a Book

Top Ten Tuesdays is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. 
This week's topic is: 
Top Ten Words/Topics That Instantly Make Me Buy/Pick Up A Book.

That's pretty easy. Here they are:

1. Dragons. I am a fool for dragons. It's true.

2. Wizards. Who doesn't love a wizard?

3. Boarding school. I adore boarding schools! What a great way to get your protagonists away from their parents, and doing something awesome, right quick.

4. Love triangle. Lots of people are tired of them, but they still have a lot of appeal for me.

5. Elves. Just like humans. But magical, and better looking!

6. Cults. Is this crazy? I love stories about folks trapped in and/or escaping from a cult.

7. Spaceships. If it's not taking place in a fantasy milieu, then a spaceship will suit me just fine.

8. Multiverse. Any kind of time-travel/alternate reality sounds good to me.

9. Faeries. Yup. Maybe it's cheating to put this on the list (as I've already mentioned elves) but, that kind of magical, otherworldly beings is sure to make for a good story, I think.

10. Dystopia. Why is this an auto-go-to for me? I guess the current times feel kind of stressful. In a weird way, it's helpful to imagine worst-case scenarios. Even in a dystopia, the hero seems to be prevailing against terrible odds. I guess what I'm trying to say is that dystopia makes me feel good because even when things are going badly (in the real world) at least they're not going as badly as that.

The Wallflower review

The Wallflower
by Tomoko Hayakawa, translated by David Ury
Del Rey
October 2004

What an utterly weird little book. There's this misfit girl, Sunako, and her aunt, a wealthy landlady, who's offered four boys free rent at her boarding house (more like a mansion) if they can turn her niece into a pretty young lady. The girl is very socially awkward, shy and hates herself but loves horror movies. She's kind of like a goth, without the fashion sense. She gets nosebleeds all the time when she's nervous and refers to herself as a creature of darkness, and the boys as creatures of light. She's always afraid that she'll melt away from embarrassment. 

The boys try to get her out of her shell - at one point they all dress in drag and take her to a hostess club - kind of the Japanese equivalent of a strip club? No one really bats an eye at this. The boys are all very pretty and as popular as rock stars. After this, Sunako decides that she's too overwhelmed by it all, and murdering the ringleader of the boys is her only answer. She makes several half-hearted attempts to stab him. The boys all treat this somewhat as a joke. Finally, they get her to dress up nice at one party (with the promise of a gift of a pile of horror DVDs if she cooperates.) She makes a splash, and hits it off with an American (who might be named John) but then gets in an awesome karate fight with a bunch of guests for being too fresh with her. The aunt offers the boys half off their rent, not knowing that her niece was only playing the part for the evening.

I like the art style, especially the way the characters revert to being children whenever they are in the midst of a strong emotion. The book reads back to front, as is traditional for manga. The translation notes in the back are helpful - but I really do think that there is a lot that is lost in translation on this one. This is the first in a popular series that has been turned into a TV show in Japan.

I purchased a copy of this book.