Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

****

From Penguin:

"Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you..."

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail.  (Everybody in the newsroom knows.  It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously.  They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.  

Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now - reading other people's e-mail.  When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers - not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.  

When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in.  But he can't help being entertained - and captivated - by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.  

What would he say...?

Dear god, the first three pages of Attachments had me laughing hysterically in the most inappropriate place...  This was my first experience with Rainbow Rowell (Bel LOVES Eleanor & Park and Fangirl), so I was really looking forward to the book.  It did not disappoint.  After the inappropriate laughing incident, I saved the book until after work and ended up staying up all night to finish.  

As pleasantly surprised as I was by the humor, I was even more surprised and pleased that Rowell was able to combine the comedy with a truly heartfelt story about love, heartbreak and the twists and turns life throws at us.  

Lincoln is broken, a zombie existing, but not really living since his heart was torn apart by his ex.  Beth is in a dysfunctional relationship trying to figure out what she is willing to give up for the man she loves, while Jennifer is the only one in a healthy relationship, but is trying to decide what she is willing to do for the man she loves.  The growth of the characters and the story were natural and well-written.  

The best part was that I found these women completely relatable and could see Bel, Nat and I exchanging many of these emails!  

I completely understand why Bel loves Rainbow Rowell so much.  I am definitely a fan now and cannot wait to pick up Eleanor & Park!

~Shel

No Angel by Helen Keeble

*** 1/2 

From HarperTeen:

Being the only guy at an all-girls school isn't exactly a dream come true...

That's right.  I, Rafael Angelos, am the sole member of the male sex at St. Mary's School.  Prepare yourselves, ladies.  But while the girls here are ridiculously hot, they also take popularity, cliques, and bullying to new levels of crazy.  So I've decided it's my job to step in.  Protect the meek, smite the wicked, and win the heart of a beautiful victim while I'm at it.  

The whole "guardian angel" thing is getting a little out of hand, though.  I really didn't sign up for a weird, glowing circle around my head - or a pair of wings.  And I'm starting to worry that there's a reason so many of the girls act like they're possessed by demons...

No Angel is a hilarious take on the recent influx of angel related books.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of some of these books, but No Angel's spoof-like nature was awesome.  It was also surprising, with twists and turns I never expected.  

As a story about teenagers fighting the battle between good and evil, angels vs demons, No Angel takes a humorous approach to the follies that inevitably follow.  It also takes the battle between teens and adults to new extremes.  All in all, I recommend No Angel for it's belly laughs and witty dialogue.  Excuse me, I need to go download Fang Girl now, you should too.

~Shel

Waiting on Wednesday (76)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that highlights future releases that we are excitedly anticipating.


Hauntings are our business . . .

Ghosts crowd the streets and houses of London. Anthony Lockwood, with his slightly grumpy deputy George, and his junior field operative Lucy, make up LOCKWOOD & CO, the small, shabby yet talented ghost-hunting agency.

After a series of calamitous investigations into the supernatural go awry, the team are desperate to prove themselves. Their opportunity comes in the form of a terrifying ghost, the Red Duke. But little do they know what perils lie in store for them at the haunted Bliss Hall . . 

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

* * * *

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?  And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Rainbow Rowell seriously won me over with Eleanor & Park. And you know how you can love one book so much that you worry if you can love the next one as much? Well, I’m glad to report that I didn’t have anything to worry about here!

The first word to come to mind for how to describe Fangirl is “adorable”. It’s just chock full of adorable that I cannot stop beaming over that fact. Cath and her twin sister Wren have been stuck at the hip since always.  So Cath is shocked when they’re ready to start college that Wren decides to room with someone else, change her appearance and even starts to distance herself from her. It’s an odd feeling for Cath and she’s unsure if she can even make it at college without her sister as her sidekick.

I think almost anyone can identify with Cath’s fear and insecurities about starting at college not knowing anyone and having to create a whole new social circle. Her roommate Reagan is a bit of an imposing personality. Reagan's friend Levi who is constantly hanging out in their dorm room, is a charismatic, outgoing guy with a hipster vibe, is a personality that Cath just can’t quite grasp. Instead of trying to get out there and make friends, she confines herself to her room and her fan fiction writing.

As the school year wears on, Cath starts to break out of her shell a little thanks to Reagan who basically insists that she stop being weird. Levi even begins to get under her skin and before she knows it, these nutty people are her friends. The downside is that she and Wren have started losing touch with each other which concerns Cath.  And even though she’s started branching out, she’s still afraid to completely let go and claim her independence. She's constantly coming up with ways to leave school behind because she wants to avoid the changes that are happening.

Rowell excellently captures Cath's hesitation about being on her own for the first time. Little things like Cath surviving on granola bars in her dorm room to avoid the cafeteria exemplify her fragility. Discovering who she is away from being Wren's twin and learning not to hide behind Simon Snow to become a writer in her own right are pivotal growing experiences for her as a freshman. I felt so protective of Wren and had plenty of appreciation for her Reagan and Levi who looked out for her in their quirky way. But the biggest area of growth is her relationship with her sister as they learn to communicate with each other again and accept the differences that have sprung up between them.

Rowell also did plenty of research on fan fiction to capture that whole world. I'm not big into fan fiction myself simply because I don't have the time to read that much - believe me I wish that wasn't the case! But what I did read in Fangirl was quite entertaining and I also thought it was a great "thumbs up" to the fan fiction world from a fantastic author. 

If you read Eleanor & Park and enjoyed it, I know you'll absolutely enjoy Fangirl as well. It's story line is about the same speed and you just can't help but fall in love with Cath and Levi. It's another one of those that leaves you smiling and saying "you go girl!"

~ Bel

Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan

* * 1/2

Stephen has been invisible for practically his whole life — because of a curse his grandfather, a powerful cursecaster, bestowed on Stephen’s mother before Stephen was born. So when Elizabeth moves to Stephen’s NYC apartment building from Minnesota, no one is more surprised than he is that she can see him. A budding romance ensues, and when Stephen confides in Elizabeth about his predicament, the two of them decide to dive headfirst into the secret world of cursecasters and spellseekers to figure out a way to break the curse. But things don’t go as planned, especially when Stephen’s grandfather arrives in town, taking his anger out on everyone he sees. In the end, Elizabeth and Stephen must decide how big of a sacrifice they’re willing to make for Stephen to become visible — because the answer could mean the difference between life and death. At least for Elizabeth.




Review:

Steven has always been lonely.  But he has become even more so since his mother passed away.  Kind of hard not to when no one can see you.  When he learns that his new neighbor, Elizabeth, can SEE him, he is in complete awe that he now has someone that he can talk to and relate to.  After an embarrassing and awkward first meeting, Elizabeth and Stephen embark on an intense relationship that makes them both a little scared and nervous.  When Elizabeth and Stephen are introduced to the world of Spellseekers and Cursecasters they find themselves in a dangerous situation that could either make Stephen visible or ensure his invisibility forever.

In the past, Levithan has forced me to love his characters BECAUSE of their imperfections.  Not in in spite of them.  Dash from Dash and Lily's Book of Dares is the best example of this.  Stephen is no different.  It is impossible to not connect with Stephen.  His inability to socialize with anyone has made him very thoughtful and careful of everything going on around him.  It has also made him, in some ways, very socially awkward. Which is absolutely endearing.

Elizabeth was not nearly as likable.  She wasn't necessarily unlikable.  She was just....meh.  I wish I could pinpoint exactly why I didn't love her.  She was a pretty strong character is some ways.  Particularly with how she embraces her part in the cursecasting world.  But other than that she just didn't hold my interest.

I really enjoyed Andrea Cremer's writing style.  And, as you know, I love Levithan's writing style. But as good as they may be individually, together they lacked the chemistry that I've come to expect from a Levithan collaboration.  This lack of chemistry and my feelings of indifference towards the heroine, Elizabeth, made this story difficult to finish.  Disappointingly, this book was just a "meh" for me.

Nat

Waiting on Wednesday (75)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that highlights future releases that we are excitedly anticipating.



By Kelly Fiore
Publication Date: August 27, 2013

If you can grill it, smoke it, or fry it, Nora Henderson knows all about it. She’s been basting baby back ribs and pulling pork at her father’s barbeque joint since she was tall enough to reach the counter. When she’s accepted to Taste Test, a reality-television teen cooking competition, Nora can’t wait to leave her humble hometown behind, even if it means saying good-bye to her dad and her best friend, Billy. Once she’s on set, run-ins with her high-society roommate and the maddeningly handsome—not to mention talented—son of a famous chef, Christian Van Lorten, mean Nora must work even harder to prove herself. But as mysterious accidents plague the kitchen arena, protecting her heart from one annoyingly charming fellow contestant in particular becomes the least of her concerns. Someone is conducting real-life eliminations, and if Nora doesn’t figure out who, she could be next to get chopped for good.

With romance and intrigue as delectable as the winning recipes included in the story, this debut novel will be devoured by all.

The Truth About You And Me by Amanda Grace

* * * * 1/2

Madelyn Hawkins is super smart. At sixteen, she's so gifted that she can attend college through a special program at her high school. On her first day, she meets Bennet. He's cute, funny, and kind. He understands Madelyn and what she's endured - and missed out on - in order to excel academically and please her parents. Now, for the first time in her life, she's falling in love.

There's only one problem. Bennet is Madelyn's college professor, and he thinks she's eighteen - because she hasn't told him the truth.

The story of their forbidden romance is told in letters that Madelyn writes to Bennet - both a heart-searing ode to their ill-fated love and an apology.

I was taken with Amanda Grace last year after I read But I Love Him, a blunt look at an abusive relationship told through the eyes of the victim.  That book was an absolute stunner. So when the opportunity came along to read The Truth About You And Me, I knew perfectly well that I’d be placing my trust in her once again to take me to that very edge where the characters are teetering on self-destruction before they finally reel themselves back in.

At first glance, Madelyn doesn’t strike you as a delinquent. Her excellent grades, model behavior and responsible nature would lead anyone to believe that she has it all together. That is far from the truth. Madelyn feels the mounting pressure from her parents’ high expectations to surpass even their own achievements. She has endured this quietly throughout high school. When she begins the Running Start program as a high school student taking college level courses, she seizes the opportunity of a being in a different environment to rebel against those expectations.

The trouble starts when she arrives at her biology class and meets her teacher Bennet and they experience one of those "instant connection" moments. There on out Madelyn engages in a dangerous game. On a chance meeting outside of the classroom, Bennet assumes that she is 18 and she allows him to think so. The sequence of events is mapped out through letters Madelyn writes after an unfortunate turn of events. Through these letters, you can follow her as she weaves her first lie and then each lie thereafter. The thing is, she is perfectly aware of what she’s doing and why.

Let me say that I love that this book is in letter format. It made the story even more personal. The letters manage to root through all the emotions to arrive at the motivations behind the actions or the impulses.  I was able to understand Madelyn’s mindset. I was dragged in but not dragged down.  A lot of her issues stem from her parents’ high expectations and no room for failure attitude. With Bennet the irony is that she feels more like herself even though she’s being dishonest with him. They do develop a friendship that’s cozy and reliable with both of them counting down the days til they can officially be together. 

I’ll tell you what, throughout the letters, Madelyn keeps hinting at that day when everything fell apart and as I got closer to that point, I grew more and more uneasy. My imagination was all over the place wondering what on earth could have happened. Did someone walk in on them? Did she let slip something? Did he see her at her high school? I couldn’t wait to find out yet at the same time I wanted to remain in that happy little bubble that Madelyn and Bennet had created.  I swear I could feel my heart thumping madly. But that’s great storytelling when you’re drawn in and can feel that clock ticking to the penultimate moment.

So how did I feel after I was finished? I felt a myriad of emotions from sadness to anger to happiness, to disappointment and finally I felt relief. Considering how this one stayed with me the rest of the day after I’d finished it, I’m quite certain that The Truth About You and Me will be in the running for my Top 10 of 2013!

~ Bel