Lindsey Roth Culli: "This Above All" (ARC Review)

Title: This Above All [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Lindsey Roth Culli [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary
Year: 2016
Age: 12+
Stars: 3/5
Pros: Original premise. Funny and heartfelt. Likeable main character, with a clear, pleasant voice.
Cons: The last third of the book takes a dive into trope land.
Will appeal to: Those who like theater/acting. Those looking for a coming-of-age story.

Blurb: When sixteen-year old Piper is cast as Romeo in her school’s production, she’s as surprised as everyone else. Not only because she’s a girl, but also because she’s from one of the region’s most notorious ultraconservative families. But when the school principal demands that the part be recast “appropriately” or the show cannot go on, Piper faces a choice: become the figurehead to appeal the principal’s decision or accept the message the administration’s ultimatum sends to the school’s gay students, including her new friends. Namely, that they should be ashamed of who they are or whom they happen to love. (Goodreads excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I received this novel from Curiosity Quills in exchange for an honest review. To be more precise, I specifically requested a review copy. That didn't affect my opinion and rating in any way. Here goes...

OFF TO A GOOD START

I have a confession to make: I'm a sucker for stories about teens performing (Fame, anyone? I grew up with it, as this post reveals). Also, in this case, a girl cast as the male lead in a school production was a hell of a premise. Especially since Piper comes from an over-religious, ultra-conservative family. But when I started on the book, I found out that TAA was somehow exceeding my expectations. For one thing, we are thrust mid-action (or better, mid-acting), with Piper auditioning for the main female role in Romeo and Juliet, all while her inner monologue gives us enough backstory about her and her family without sounding info-dumpy. I could practically smell stage dust :) - and I took an immediate liking to Piper's voice. Her passion for acting, and Shakespeare in particular, dates back to when her deceased mother read "secular" books to her younger self - books that, of course, are frowned upon (to put it mildly) by Piper's pastor father. The author is able to convincingly shape a character caught between her family's and church's expectations (and the kind of God she's been taught to believe in) on one side, and her consuming passion for all things theater on the other - which, in turn, will lead her to question her whole upbringing and the dogmas surrounding it. [...]

B.C. Johnson: "Deadgirl: Ghostlight" (ARC Review)

Title: Deadgirl: Ghostlight [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Deadgirl (2nd of 4 books)
Author: B.C. Johnson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Afterlife, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy, Contemporary
Year: 2016
Age: 12+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Main lead gets you hooked. Story has something in it for everyone: pain and fun, epic and normalcy (um, not so much), dating and acting, growing up and staying alive (sort of).
Cons: Some teen drama/angst. Almost-love-triangle with an additional complication. Pop culture references galore (some of them slightly out of the characters' reach IMO).
WARNING! Gang violence and almost rape. Teen sex (nothing overly graphic, and protection is used). Some language.
Will appeal to: Those who like a determined, yet complex protagonist who can sneak into their heart, coupled with a great ensemble cast. Those who like adrenaline reads. Those who are into theater. Those who don't mind a small dose of romance. Those who don't mind a huge dose of wisecracks.

Blurb: Transformed into a “phantom” by her own titanic will to live, Lucy must feed on the essence, memories, and emotions of others to keep herself solid. After defeating her Grim Reaper and learning that she could survive without hurting people, Lucy thought the madness was finally over. Her cravings for essence under control, Lucy tries to live a normal life. Apparently you have to be alive for that to work, though, as Lucy learns that one of her friends is more than she appears. She insists that Lucy, with her ghostly abilities and tentative immortality, can join her in the fight to help those in need. Thrust into the role of teenage savior, Lucy Day finds herself battling a pack of voyeuristic serial killers, a mysterious and deadly wraith, and the idea that she might actually have to start dating again sometime this century. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I received this novel from Curiosity Quills in exchange for an honest review. And the author being B.C. Johnson, you all know I've been campaigning for his first Deadgirl book with all my might since 2012, when the original version came out. Also, B.C. Johnson and me have stayed in touch, if sporadically, for the whole time. I'm not what you would call a friend of his though, only a fan of his work. And an unbiased one :). As usual, this review is the love child of my penchant for quirky, uniquely worded books and B.C. Johnson's ability to deliver them. Here goes...

OFFICIAL ENGAGEMENT

I might as well get it off my chest: I'm still partial to Book 1, and probably always will. It was fresh, unexpected and exciting. It was happily void of the usual teen drama (Lucy's tentative romance with Zach hardly qualified as such) and full of powerful imagery. It introduced me to one of the better developed characters I've ever met. And it didn't even need a sequel.
Now, you might wonder why - given this premise - I'm awarding 5 stars to the second installment as well. And you might suspect that I'm being nice to the author because I'm talking to him on a semi-regular basis, or because I'm trying to milk more free books from him/his publisher (despite my disclaimer). OK, the truth? Even if Deadgirl: Ghostlight isn't a perfect book (we'll get to that later), I found myself comparing it to all my 4 and 4.5 star novels, and I realised that I loved it so much more than them. That it had an impact on my heart and mind they lacked, if for a tiny margin. That I cared for the characters and loved to journey with them too much for detracting half stars. Coming from a middle aged lady, and what with the series centering on a bunch of teens none of which resembles me at ANY age, I suppose this is testament enough to the author's skill of engaging with readers :).

THE (UN)USUAL MESS

Unlike Book 1 (which was a non-stop ride spanning a few days), the second installment of Deadgirl follows Lucy and her friends for a whole year, and alternates supernatural/paranormal incidents with teen drama and a bunch of cozy (so to speak) moments. We follow Lucy while she's trying to adjust to her unlife and learn the ropes, use her powers for the greater good (which puts her in grave danger, because apparently, not being alive doesn't mean you're immune to misery), joggle parents, friends and school, and unsuccessfully stay away from potential heartbreak (i.e. dating). The variety makes for an entertaining, multifaceted, always surprising read. There's also a fresh and lively theater subplot - the author worked as a stage hand for a while, which I guess explains his confidence with this particular environment. But the acme of the book for me is the scene where Lucy finds her whole being (or unbeing) challenged, and it takes all her strength to believe in herself, whatever she is. For all her paranormal gifts, Lucy is not a superheroine - she covers all the spectrum from weak to strong (though she definitely leans towards the strong end), and her real weapons are her emotions and willpower. Which is why she managed to escape death-death in the first place... [...]

Sandra Scoppettone: "Trying Hard to Hear You"

Title: Trying Hard to Hear You [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Sandra Scoppettone [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary
Year: 1973
Age: 12+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Simple but compelling story of friendship, prejudices and coming out, with a great cast of characters.
Cons: This is an oldie...you might feel like it's outdated. On the other hand, most issues are still relevant today. Sadly so.
Will appeal to: Those who prefer reading about feelings than about actual sex. Those who like stories with a strong friendship accent.

Blurb: In this heartbreaking tale of love and prejudice, one single summer changes the lives of an entire community. "Two of us were going to suffer like we never had before, and none of us would be the same again." (Amazon)

Review: Sort-of-disclaimer: I read the Italian translation of this book, so I can't really judge the writing style. Also, I don't know if any parts of this novel have been cut off in my version.
Yes, I know. Really old stuff. The seventies! Even for me, who was already born at the time, this is a story that dates a little way back, since I was only a kid in 1973. Also, I've never lived in a small American suburb during an age of turmoils and attempted change. What I mean is, everyone can relate to this story. It's not ancient history, and it's not boring, and it's not outdated. Well, maybe (just maybe) the racial episode...but not the gay content. Which is a pity, of course. Yes, there was so much more ignorance going around those days, and lots of people thought that homosexuality was a mental illness (or a perversion, pure and simple). But mind you, if less often, this still happens today. So, what I mean in the end is, you have to give this story a chance. Because, 1973 or not, it will touch your heart.
Let me start by saying that the frame for this novel is one of my favourite: the kids are setting up a summer theatre show. I took an immediate liking to Camilla, the 16 year old narrator. She's genuine, fresh, introspective but outgoing. I also loved her relationship with Jeff, her best friend. The two of them have known each other for years, and Camilla doesn't see him as a possible boyfriend, which is refreshing. You can tell they are really close, though Jeff has a huge secret he didn't tell Camilla...he's gay. I sort of experienced a situation like that, so I think it's very plausible...especially given the still-not-so-enlightened time frame. Also, much later in the book, Jeff tells the story of how he realised he was gay, and it sounds so realistic and genuine.
In a sense, you might say this is a love triangle - except it isn't. Yes, there are a girl and two boys, but the dynamics at work here are really peculiar. Of course, the big secret doesn't hold for long, but this is not the point of the book. The point is how the secret, once revealed, affects the characters - especially Camilla. [...]

Adrienne Stoltz & Ron Bass: "Lucid" [new title 2014: "Let Me Wake"]

Title: Lucid*  [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
   *new title 2014: Let Me Wake
Series: None
Author: Adrienne Stoltz & Ron Bass [Adrienne on IMDB | Adrienne on Goodreads | Ron on IMDB | Ron on Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist
Year: 2012
Age: 12+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Pulling, refined prose. Vividly painted leads and sidekicks (most of them, that is). Killer idea behind it all.
Cons: Two love triangles for the price of one (but the book is so good, you'll probably be able to condone that. Like I did...). Some over-the-top or too convenient situations. I was able to spot a couple of typos, but nothing majorly annoying.
WARNING! An underage sex scene (though not at all graphic) told in retrospect.
Will appeal to: Contemporary fans who are in for something different. Not contemporary fans who are in for something different. Everyone who likes to go into the depth and get surprised.

Blurb: Sloane and Maggie have never met. Sloane is a straight-A student with a big and loving family. Maggie lives a glamorously independent life as an up-and-coming actress in New York. The two girls couldn't be more different - except for one thing. They share a secret that they can't tell a soul. At night, they dream that they're each other. The deeper they're pulled into the promise of their own lives, the more their worlds begin to blur dangerously together. Before long, Sloane and Maggie can no longer tell which life is real and which is just a dream. They realize that eventually they will have to choose one life to wake up to, or risk spiraling into insanity. But that means giving up one world, one love, and one self, forever.(Amazon excerpt)

Review: You know me by now, don't you? I hate swoony romances, love triangles, all the stuff. So, how come I read a book with plenty of romance and not one, but two love triangles (or the likes) and didn't throw it across the room? On the contrary, this turned out to be 4-star material for me. Crazy, isn't it? I guess I owe you a convincing explanation ;).
See, there are two girls. Or only one. Or no girl at all. Let's say, there are two stories, because of that much there is evidence. Each story, of course, has its own main character - both female and 17 year old. Apparently, the two of them dream each other's life. Their lives even mirror each other loosely, though they (the lives...but the girls too) couldn't be been more different. Right from the start, some small details leak in and out of each life - just enough to alert the reader that the two characters are related somehow. The real question is, how? are they both real? or only one of them is? or...are neither? is there someone else behind them? (Which is not just one real question but a bunch. Oh, well. Maybe I can write but I can't count).
On one hand, Sloane - the student - feels more real because she lives quite the normal life, the one you can relate to more easily. On the other hand, Maggie - the actress - is the one with the shrink, the one who makes up stories about people, and (I may be wrong, but this is how it sounds to me) the one who doubts her own realness more. Which makes up for her having the more glamorous life, and therefore posing as the major suspect when it comes to being the fictitious one...supposing one of the girls is not real. Which I didn't necessarily imply ;).
I don't know if the author duo split the work in two, or collaborated through the whole book, or took turns in revising each other's chapters. What I know is that Bass is a LA screenwriter, and Stoltz his long-time writing partner from Mystic, Connecticut - coincidentally, Sloane's home town. So I suppose she had her say about the setting for Sloane's story, while probably (just my educated guess) Bass took care of the NY sections. Anyway, the chapters flow seamlessly, and while the two girls maintain their peculiarities and do have different voices, their streams of consciousness manage to sound alike enough when it comes to the basics. [...]

Elizabeth Eulberg: "Take a Bow" (or The Of-Course Review)

Title: Take a Bow [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary
Year: 2012
Age: 12+
Stars: 2/5
Pros: Clean book (if you have an issue with swear words). A relaxing, nice read.
Cons: Lack of real depth. Predictable, single-faceted characters. Conflicts are settled too easily.
Will appeal to: Those who need to float in a dream world for a while.

Blurb: Emme has long lived in her best friend Sophie's shadow. She writes songs, and Sophie sings them. Sophie will stop at nothing to be a star. Even if it means using her best friend and picking up a trophy boyfriend, Carter. Carter is a victim of a particular Hollywood curse: he's a former child star. Now all he wants is a normal life. Ethan has his own issues - a darkness in his head that he just can't shake. Emme's the only girl he's ever really respected...but he's not sure what to do about that. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: It's difficult for me to hate this book. Even if I've been cheated into believing it could be the next "Fame" and it's not. Because "Fame" (I'm talking about the 1982 series...not the 1980 movie or, heaven forbid, the 2009 remake) may have been cheesy (hey, those were the '80s after all), but it used to have real blood and sweat... layered characters...and even managed to teach some life lessons. Well, the first three seasons at least - the last three, not so much. Anyway, the point is - this novel reads like an eviscerated version of "Fame". The story is too simple, fluffy and juvenile for my tastes. The characters  - minus one of them, of course - are too sanitized. And the one who isn't seems deprived of any redeeming quality, which is kind of sanitized in reverse. (To be honest, Ethan is not sanitized at all on the whole...but still too darn perfect in his commitment to Emme. He speaks like a book - well, most of the time, every single one of them does - and has little hearts fluttering out of his puppy eyes). Then again, I can't seem to hate this book with a passion. Hence the 2 stars.
The story revolves around four main characters. Emme is sweet and shy. Sophie is ambitious and manipulative. Carter is sensible and introspective. Ethan is self-destructive and insecure. And they all have the same voice - with the possible exception of Sophie...but even in that case, not so much.  Because especially the first four chapters (every chapter is told in a different character's POV) sound exactly the same, with regards to the structure and sentence construction.
We follow Emme, Sophie, Carter and Ethan from their enrollment in CPA (a New York school of the arts...again, Fame anyone? and BTW, I'm not sure if you can have visual arts and performing arts in the same school, like in this case) to their last year there, and their graduation. Or better, we jump from their enrollment straight to their last year, and then we follow them to their graduation, with only some small flashbacks of what happened in the middle. This makes for a short book, at least comparing Eulberg's take on the story with what it could have been. Because really, so much more could have been said. [...]

Kathe Koja: "Talk"

Title: Talk [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Kathe Koja [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary
Year: 2005
Age: 12+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Honest, emotive, and most of all, gorgeously written.
Cons: Could have been longer and more detailed, characters-wise - though still we get to know them enough. Leads first-person voices blur into each other a little sometimes.
Will appeal to: GLBTQ fiction lovers of course, but pretty much anyone who values staying true to oneself and standing up for what ones believes in. And, last but not least, anyone who's a sucker for beautiful, poignant prose.

Blurb: Kit Webster is hiding a secret. Carma, his best friend, has already figured it out, and pushes him to audition for the high school play, Talk. When he's cast as the male lead, he expects to escape his own life for a while and become a different person. What he gets instead is the role of a lifetime: Kit Webster. In the play, Kit's thrown together with Lindsay Walsh, the female lead and the school's teen queen. Lindsay, tired of the shallow and selfish boys from her usual circle of friends, sees something real in Kit - and wants it. But Kit's attention is focused on Pablo, another boy in school. The play is controversial; the parents put pressure on the school to shut it down. And when Kit and Lindsay rally to save Talk, they find themselves deep into a battle for the truth: onstage, and inside themselves. (Amazon)

Review: (Well, first off, a little premise. I'm currently waiting for twelve books, some new some not, to be delivered by a web bookseller. Among them, the notorious last installment in Jeri Smith-Ready "WVMP series" I've been blogging about lately. While I was waiting for said book, I thought I'd shared my thoughts on all the previous ones in the series with you...but I've been reminded that this is primarily a YA blog, so I decided to put my vamp DJ friends on hold and go back to a teen book instead. I also picked something different from my aforegoing stuff, and here goes...).
This is really a very small book - around 130 pages. It basically revolves around a group of high school seniors staging a play called "Talk", by the (fictional) author Lawson Shoals, and dealing with obstructionism on behalf of a group of adults and the very school board. Also, we follow the two leads - gay-in-the-closet Kit and queen-bee Lindsay - coming to terms with their own lives with the help of said play. A pretty simple and even common canvas in itself, on which Koja manages to paint an engrossing, distinct masterpiece. 
The thing that makes a winner out of this one is the gorgeous prose. Kit and Lindsay's voices alternate, chapter by chapter, in a stream-of-consciousness form, often beset with broken lines, and are interspersed with fragments from the play. The only complaint I have about this is the odd similarity those voices seem to bear sometimes, though the two characters couldn't be more different. Kit is sweet, insecure, torn between the need of coming out of his closet and the desire of escaping from himself. Lindsay is self-centered and ambitious, unable to see her own faults, though she does recognize those in the members of her social circle. Both seem to find what they're looking for in the play though, even if their reasons are completely different. [...]