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Irises by Francisco X. Stork

Posted on May 14, 2012
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Reason for Reading:
  • Francisco X. Stork made me a fan with Marcelo in the Real World

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

TWO SISTERS: Kate is bound for Stanford and an M.D. — if her family will let her go. Mary wants only to stay home and paint. When their loving but repressive father dies, they must figure out how to support themselves and their mother, who is in a permanent vegetative state, and how to get along in all their uneasy sisterhood.

THREE YOUNG MEN: Then three men sway their lives: Kate’s boyfriend Simon offers to marry her, providing much-needed stability. Mary is drawn to Marcos, though she fears his violent past. And Andy tempts Kate with more than romance, recognizing her ambition because it matches his own.

ONE AGONIZING CHOICE: Kate and Mary each find new possibilities and darknesses in their sudden freedom. But it’s Mama’s life that might divide them for good — the question of *if* she lives, and what’s worth living for.

My Review:

Here’s what I love about Francisco X. Stork: He writes inspirational stories without feeling the need to preach.

I saw it in Marcelo in the Real World, then again in The Last Summer of the Death Warriors, and now… he completely turns away from the male-focused stories and focuses instead on two girls, sisters, ages 16 and 18, and manages to write with such an honest and clear voice I found my heartstrings being tugged at again and again.

While I didn’t love this story as much as I loved Marcelo and Summer, I still found it had honest merit, and I could relate to it. I grew up in a fairly restricted environment, and my sympathies were definitely inclined toward the sisters.. but I also found myself disbelieving some things as well – such as the scenes with the new, young pastor. It just seemed a bit far-fetched and strange to me, and that’s what kept me from overly gushing at this book – but still it had a quiet sort of beauty that made me glad to have read it, and once again I was proven right in my love for Mr. Stork.

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

Justin’s Book Blog

My Friend Amy

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An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Posted on May 11, 2012
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Reason for Reading:
  • John Green climbed to the top of my list of favorite young adult authors with his newest novel – so now I’m going back and reading his previous ones!

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. He’s also a washed-up child prodigy with ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a passion for anagrams, and an overweight, Judge Judy-obsessed best friend. Colin’s on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which will predict the future of all relationships, transform him from a fading prodigy into a true genius, and finally win him the girl. Letting expectations go and allowing love in are at the heart of Colin’s hilarious quest to find his missing piece and avenge dumpees everywhere

My Review:

I am not a math lover – but I loved nearly everything in this book (Including the math, nerdy appendix).

Here’s what I’ve come to love about John Green. He makes nerd look AMAZINGLY COOL. And I have to give him props for that. He also makes the most amazing heroes out of kids that.. well, they aren’t exactly easy hero material.

An Abundance of Katherines is about Colin, a boy prodigy who dates only girls named Katherine, loves anagrams, and is pretty scared of not becoming a genius … kinda. Basically, he wants to make his mark in the world, something I think everyone can agree with.

So after completing high school he sets out on a journey with his Muslim friend (who, by the way.. hilarious – yet again. Love the sidekicks in Green’s books).

I cannot express how much this book tickled me, even with all of the math and the footnotes, which.. I admit, I kind of glazed over at times (with permission of the author of course!).

Highly recommended for teenagers who think that being cool means you have to conform to a certain mold, and for adults who want to read a fun, interesting novel.

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

Fictitious Delicious

Mostly Reading YA

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Night Swim by Jessica Keener

Posted on February 1, 2012
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Reason for Reading:
  • There’s just something about a family that’s messed up.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

Sixteen-year-old Sarah Kunitz lives in a posh, suburban world of 1970 Boston. From the outside, her parents’ lifestyle appears enviable – a world defined by cocktail parties, expensive cars, and live-in maids to care for their children – but inside their five-bedroom house, all is not well for the Kunitz family. Coming home from school, Sarah finds her well-dressed, pill-popping mother lying disheveled on their living room couch. At night, to escape their parents’ arguments, Sarah and her oldest brother, Peter, find solace in music, while her two younger brothers retreat to their rooms and imaginary lives. Any vestige of decorum and stability drains away when their mother dies in a car crash one terrible winter day. Soon after, their father, a self-absorbed, bombastic professor begins an affair with a younger colleague. Sarah, aggrieved, dives into two summer romances that lead to unforeseen consequences. In a story that will make you laugh and cry, Night Swim shows how a family, bound by heartache, learns to love again.

My Review:

This book surprised the heck out of me.  I don’t know what I loved more – Jessica Keener’s descriptions of the world contained within the book, or her ability to really capture the voice of each and every individual character. When I picked up Night Swim and started to read, I struggled a little bit to find a groove, figure out what Keener was doing, but man – once I got into a groove I couldn’t put this book down, to the detriment of the stacks upon stacks of homework I had to do.

A sort of coming-of-age story, but also a story about relationships between parents and children, different races and classes, religions, and more. This was a hodge-podge of everything that is dynamite in a story, and instead of overwhelming that story with too much, it worked very, very well, creating a compelling story that’s been stuck in my mind since I put the book down.

Every once in a while I pick up a book that I wouldn’t normally pick up in a book store.  The biggest complaint about this book is the cover, I find it way too boring and bland considering the content it’s hiding.  If I had seen it in a bookstore, I just wouldn’t have been interested – but I didn’t.  Instead I was hooked by a description and that hook was enough to get me to look past the cover and find the story.

Y’all, this one was very much worth the read.

About the Author

For more reviews on Night Swim by Jessica Keener, please follow the book tour.

 

 

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Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea by Morgan Callan Rogers

Posted on January 28, 2012
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Reason for Reading:
  • The title – such an interesting one!

I recommend:

  • Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson

Summary from GoodReads:

A captivating debut, introducing a spirited young heroine coming of age in coastal Maine during the early 1960s.

When her mother disappears during a weekend trip, Florine Gilham’s idyllic childhood is turned upside down. Until then she’d been blissfully insulated by the rhythms of family life in small town Maine; watching from the granite cliffs above the sea for her father’s lobster boat to come into port, making bread with her grandmother, and infiltrating the summer tourist camps with her friends. But with her mother gone, the heart falls out of Florine’s life and she and her father are isolated as they struggle to manage their loss. Both sustained and challenged by the advice and expectations of her family and neighbors, Florine grows up with her spirit intact. And when her father’s past comes to call, she must accept that life won’t ever be the same while keeping her mother vivid in her memories. With Fannie Flagg’s humor and Elizabeth Stroud’s sense of place, this debut is an extraordinary snapshot of a bygone America through the eyes of an inspiring girl blazing her own path to womanhood.

My Review:

This book charmed the heck outta me.  Right away, while reading a description of a time long past, a coast I’d never seen, and a girl and her mother making a spontaneous trip, I fell in love.  Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea is the perfect coming-of-age story for an older generation of women, and for the younger generation as well so they can get a glimpse of what life was like.

Here’s what I love the most about this captivating little story.  There are no neat endings, no tidy wrap-ups, and no cliches.  Instead there is heartfelt emotion, and it’s raw.. and it hurts, and I wanted to rage right along with Florine at the unfairness of life – but bravo to Rogers for making life unfair, because that’s what made this book real.  It was so real I could smell the salty air, and I could see the hot tears on Florine’s face, and feel her rage as she acts out against the adults in her life, you know – the adults who actually stuck around for her.

When I first finished this book, I sat it down and I looked at it and I thought.. that was okay, but .. do I want more?  And now that I’ve had time to sit back and think, to let the story settle, I am really, really appreciating this story for being the gem it is.

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

Chicks Dig Books

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Double Feature – Crown Duel and Court Duel by Sherwood Smith

Posted on January 19, 2012
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Reason for Reading:
  • I’ve had this on my TBR for two years, figured it was time to get around to it.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

A deathbed promise to their father sends a daring girl and her brother off to war. Filled with intrigue, romance, and magic, this spellbinding novel is a dramatic coming-of-age story about a girl who rises from impoverished beginnings to take command of her own fate.

My Review:

Sherwood Smith, why oh why are your covers so horrifically bad?  Because girl… you can write oh so good.  Seriously, as I read this fantastic gem of a young adult fantasy duo I felt like pumping my fist and shouting GIRL POWER quite happily.  Because this girl, this Meliara, she knocked my socks off.

So basically this story starts with an impoverished member of the court and his two kids, a boy and a girl.  The girl has been left to her own devices, she’s run wild, and she does not have a good impression of the finery and snobbery of the court off in the distance.  But now.. her father is dying and the duchy is left to both girl and boy.  And to make matters worse – it appears they are going to war.

Meliara is gutsy in a very good way.  She doesn’t have magical powers that allow her to pick up a sword and kick some butt, she’s too petite for that, and Sherwood realistically portrays that weakness.  Instead, she sneaks, she spies, and she does what she firmly believes to be best.  From captures to escapes, double-crossings and alliances, and then to the scene at court and the flirtations, parties and secrets, this story moves quickly and had me flipping pages and very grateful that the edition I read had both books combined.

This is a satisfying, little gem of a fantasy that is the perfect solution for those of you out there who are tired of cliffhangers and want to read a good, solid story that will have you cheering and maybe even tearing up a little bit at the conclusion.

Check out these reviews!

Steph Su Reads

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