Review — Vesper by Jeff Sampson

 Okay, so here's the thing about this week's Villette-Read-a-Long:  I'm behind.  Like chapters behind (they're LONG this week).  I know, I know I'm terrible.  I promise I'll post my Week Three thoughts this weekend when I've caught up.  In the meantime, have a review!

Summary (via Goodreads):  Emily Webb is a geek. And she’s happy that way. Content hiding under hoodies and curling up to watch old horror flicks, she’s never been the kind of girl who sneaks out for midnight parties. And she’s definitely not the kind of girl who starts fights or flirts with other girls’ boyfriends. Until one night Emily finds herself doing exactly that . . . the same night one of her classmates—also named Emily—is found mysteriously murdered.

The thing is, Emily doesn’t know why she’s doing any of this. By day, she’s the same old boring Emily, but by night, she turns into a thrill seeker. With every nightfall, Emily gets wilder until it’s no longer just her personality that changes. Her body can do things it never could before: Emily is now strong, fast, and utterly fearless. 

And soon Emily realizes that she’s not just coming out of her shell . . . there’s something much bigger going on. Is she bewitched by the soul of the other, murdered Emily? Or is Emily Webb becoming something else entirely— something not human?

As Emily hunts for answers, she finds out that she’s not the only one this is happening to—some of her classmates are changing as well. Who is turning these teens into monsters—and how many people will they kill to get what they want?

Review: I feel like it's a rare YA book that keeps me guessing throughout the entire book, even more rare to not undermine the entire mystery with some cliched or obvious ending, so I was pleasantly surprised when Vesper managed an interesting mystery without making me roll my eyes when I got to the last page.

Vesper is hard to talk about because I'm wary of giving away any thing about the overall mystery.  Suffice it to say that just when I thought I knew what was going on, I was thrown in a completely new direction.  There were hints as to what was going on with Emily and the other kids in her town, but everything is so vague and clouded in mystery that I really couldn't take any one "explanation" as fact until the final reveal.  I will say that I thought Emily jumped to her suspicions about her "powers" a little to readily.  If I was suddenly acting like my sluttier evil twin come nightfall I don't know if I would jump to the conclusions she did.  In the end it made sense, but as she was in the library trying to figure out what was going on with her I found her choice of material a leap.  (See?  This is way hard to comment on without giving everything away!)

I really loved Emily in all of her sci-fi geeky-ness.  She'd totally be a girl I'd be best friends with in high school.  Heck, I think I was her in high school.  I could have dealt with about 40% less "I'm such a geek/have I told you that I'm a geek/really, I'm a HUGE geek, just look at all my Buffy paraphernalia."  I felt at a certain point like, okay I get it!  Stop beating a dead horse!  You're a geek.  Congrats. 

Interspersed with Emily trying to figure out just what the hell is happening to her are mini-chapters of her being questioned by a scientist what we assume is a few months in the future.  More than just creating a creepy Fringe vibe, these chapters really allow you to see how Emily evolves in future books.  She's pretty flippant and sarcastic and it only made me love her more for embracing her inner badass.  Even more, there's a logical explanation for why Emily's personality takes such a massive shift, when the other kids aren't suddenly making out with the local deputy and stealing cars.

My only big complaint, other than Emily's sudden logic jump about her condition, was the reveal of her love interest.  I felt like he wasn't established enough as a character to the point I went "who??" and had to go back to previous chapters to figure out who he was. The mystery might have been dragged out slightly too long because the action felt a little hurried and I would have liked to see more of Emily dealing with the revelation of what she is.

I hesitate to say anything else for fear of spoiling you guys, but, let me just say that I cannot freaking wait until the next Deviants book.  Jeff Sampson has a gift for keeping the reader guessing and has created a spooky, compelling series.  I'm excited to see what the deal is with some of the other kids in Emily's town.  There are hints of other powers going on and I'm eager to see what else is in store for these kids.

Lit Snit Verdict: B+

*I received an ARC of this book through Around the World ARC tours

Review — Where I Belong by Gwendolyn Heasley

Summary (via Goodreads): Meet Corrinne. She's living every girl's dream in New York City—shopping sprees at Barneys, open access to the best clubs and parties, and her own horse at the country club. Her perfect life is perfectly on track. At least it was. . . .

When Corrinne's father is laid off, her world suddenly falls apart. Instead of heading to boarding school, she's stripped of her credit cards and shipped off to the boonies of Texas to live with her grandparents. On her own in a big public school and forced to take a job shoveling manure, Corrinne is determined to get back to the life she's supposed to be living. She doesn't care who she stomps on in the process. But when Corrinne makes an unlikely friend and discovers a total hottie at work, she begins to wonder if her life B.R.—before the recession—was as perfect as it seemed.

Review: While I live in New York City, I’ve always kind of thought of myself as a country girl (okay, country-ish girl.  I’ve worked on a farm, showed horses in the county fair, slept on a bale of hay, but will still freak out if I see any kind of bug) and happen to love those “fish out of water” stories where a city girl is thrown into country life, so I was pretty excited to hear about Where I Belong.  When I first read the synopsis I thought Gossip Girl meets Friday Night Lights.  Blair Waldorf meets Tim Riggins?  Yes, please!

I was a little nervous when the first page was a letter “from” Corrinne basically telling the reader to stick with the story even if you find her incredibly annoying and vapid (which I did).  When the main character’s telling you to just keep reading even if you hate her it makes you think twice about even turning the page, but Corrinne does grow on you.  Somewhere in the middle of the story I forgot that she was exactly the kind of self-entitled, Upper East Side rich girl that I want to smack on the subway when she takes up the last seat in the car for her tiny, quivering dog.  It’s a subtle transition and before you know it you’re actually kind of rooting for Corrinne and empathizing with her.

Broken Spoke, Texas is slightly stereotypical, but it encapsulated small town life pretty well.  The townsfolk’s names though?  No.  Just no.  I could deal with Jenny Jo, Corrinne’s mom’s name.  But Kitsy?  Bubby?  I just cannot take a guy seriously as a romantic possibility with the name Bubby.  I’m sorry.  I just felt like it was laying the “folksy charm” a bit too much.  And I liked Bubby, I did.  Kitsy, too.  They just had very unfortunate names for such down-to-earth characters. 

While I think Heasley created a great setting in Broken Spoke and succeeded in the difficult task of making a spoiled socialite likable, the dialogue was a little clunky.  Corrinne and her best friend both had strange sayings I’ve never heard any New Yorker actually utter, like “aren’t you a Forthcoming Frances/Overreacting Ophelia/Scaredy Cat Susie.”  It just felt out of character and weird.  Same with uses of words like “whack.”  I thought that word died in the 90s.  Maybe I just hoped it did…

Heasley could have also easily turned this into a straight romance YA, but she kept Corrinne’s relationship with Bubby on the back burner in favor of her relationship with her mother, Kitsy and her best friend from NYC (whose name is escaping me…).  It was much more about Corrinne’s journey than falling in love for the first time.  Things aren’t tied up neatly at the end, but it works.  Like I said, you care more than Corrinne has changed than you do about any kind of concrete resolution.  Though, maybe I’m just a terrible cynic, Kitsy’s dreams of moving to NYC and becoming a makeup artist made me a bit sad because, with all she has stacked up against her, I wondered if she wouldn’t end up as she predicted in a candid moment to Corrinne (married right out of high school with kids soon after) or, worse, like her mother.  Heasley barely touched on the socioeconomic struggles of small town life, but it did make you think.

Overall, Where I Belong isn’t exactly Friday Night Lights (but what is?), but it’s cute, fun and made me itch for a trip outside of the city.  More YA needs to be set in small country towns and, more importantly, do it well.  Heasley had right balance of realism and a bit of idealized nostalgia.

Lit Snit Verdit: B

*I received this book from Around the World ARC tours

Waiting on Wednesday — Erin

Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter
Pub date: June 21, 2011



Katarina Bishop has worn a lot of labels in her short life. Friend. Niece. Daughter. Thief. But for the last two months she’s simply been known as the girl who ran the crew that robbed the greatest museum in the world. That’s why Kat isn’t surprised when she’s asked to steal the infamous Cleopatra Emerald so it can be returned to its rightful owners.

There are only three problems. First, the gem hasn’t been seen in public in thirty years. Second, since the fall of the Egyptian empire and the suicide of Cleopatra, no one who holds the emerald keeps it for long, and in Kat’s world, history almost always repeats itself. But it’s the third problem that makes Kat’s crew the most nervous and that is simply… the emerald is cursed.

Kat might be in way over her head, but she’s not going down without a fight. After all she has her best friend—the gorgeous Hale—and the rest of her crew with her as they chase the Cleopatra around the globe, dodging curses, realizing that the same tricks and cons her family has used for centuries are useless this time.

Which means, this time, Katarina Bishop is making up her own rules.

When I saw the cover reveal last week for Ally Carter's second Heist Society book I immediately knew what my WoW pick would be.  I adored Heist Society.  I mean, come on, Ocean's 11 for teens?  Yes please!  While I am a fan of her Gallagher Girls series, I'm completely in love with the characters she's created in this series.  The dialogue is so snappy and witty and has such great energy.  It really feels like a heist film come to life.  I absolutely can't wait to get my hands on this one.


What are you waiting on this week?


*Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine

Review — Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Synopsis (via Goodreads): “I’ve left some clues for you. If you want them, turn the page. If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.” 

So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the New York Times bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. 

But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions? 

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own.

Review:  I was a big fan of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist so when I saw Rachel Cohn and David Levithan were collaborating on a new he said/she said YA novel to say I was excited would be putting it mildly.  Dash and Lily covers a tumultuous time in a New Yorker’s life: December 21^st – January 1^st.  A time when tourists descend on the city in droves, it becomes impossible to take a step without being bombarded with rampant consumerism and unflappable cheer (and, this year, lots and lots of snow).  Some love it, some become, well, snarly.

Snarly is exactly how we meet Dash does at the start of the book.  He’s not a fan of Christmas and is counting the hours until the holidays are over.  Dash’s cynicism is counterbalanced by Lily’s innocent optimism.  She loves, no, adores, Christmas.  They meet through a red notebook in Strand, the famous bookstore housing 18 miles of books.  Lily’s original message in the notebook is bold and witty, yet we learn that she didn’t write it at all, but is a creation of her brother to get her to meet a guy. 

Lily is essentially the opposite of our (and Dash’s) first impression of her and as the book goes on, I kept kind of wishing I was following the girl I’d met in the notebook rather than the slightly immature, meek girl we were supposed to be falling in love with.  She was the kind of girl who’s sweet, but I couldn’t imagine actually spending more than a couple hours with because her perky nature would drive me insane.  Similarly, Dash’s hipster ways were kind of grating after a while.  His friend Boomer seemed like he was only there to inform us that he was actually a good guy and not perpetually “snarly.”  

While I liked most of the side characters (Lily’s aunt in particular is awesome), I didn’t get Boomer at all.  Was he challenged in some way?  How can he not have simple conversations without getting confused?  He was like a five-year-old stuck in a sixteen-year-old’s body.  I found myself getting distracted by worry for the kid, running around in New York City about to get mugged at any moment or get taken advantage of in some way, rather than invested in the budding romance.  Also of a concern:  the Macy’s Santa.  There’s a moment with Dash and Santa that Cohn and Levithan brush off as “huggy” which made me recoil and want to call To Catch a Predator. 

I kept expecting to relate to the characters like I did Nick and Norah, but it just didn’t happen.  I didn’t dislike them, really, but I just didn’t care much if they ended up together or not.  And because I couldn’t get invested in them, I also couldn’t understand how they were getting invested in each other.  They didn’t have much chemistry to speak of.  Yet, Cohn and Levithan’s writing is snappy and witty enough to keep me turning the page, wanting (but not eager) to see what happens next.  I don't think Christmas worked as a common denominator between the two characters like music did with Nick & Norah.  There was a certain amount of love and youthful adoration for something bigger than themselves that was missing.

I do, however, love the way they use New York to their advantage, finding all the nooks and cranies (and crazies) of the city and making you feel like you belong.  I hope they do another novel like this together because the small shout outs from Nick and Norah made my day.  I feel like their creating their own New York and I want to see more.

While I enjoyed the Christmas theme (any non-cheesy holiday books are few and far between), and I wish I had read this before Christmas instead of after, I feel like more dynamic characters might have made this a bit more enjoyable.  

Lit Snit Verdict: C+

That cover, on the other hand? A+

Waiting on Wednesday...Plus a Brand New Lit Snit-er!

Lots to talk about today.   

First and foremost I want to introduce our newest Lit Snit-er, Christy!   Christy, of course, is a big reader (like us) and she’s been listening to my literary snits since college (actually, I believe the first inclination that we’d be longtime friends was that we bonded over our junior high love of L.J. Smith while waiting in line for many sorority rush parties.  Some girls were primping...we were talking YA.  Clearly we were the only ones that had our priorities straight).  She’s got an eclectic reading tastes and loves all things book-related so I know she’ll be a great addition to Lit Snit.

She’ll be posting her review for Juliet by Anne Fortier tomorrow so be sure to stop by and welcome her!

In other news, we’ve been known to read our share of YA here at Lit Snit so I thought I’d take a second to mention TeenReads’ book awards.  They’re currently taking nominations for your favorite books of 2010.  I know I’m going to stop by to nominate Courtney Summers’ Some Girls Are, Jandy Nelson’s The Sky is Everywhere, and my latest fave Antony John’s Five Flavors of Dumb.  Be sure to nominate your favorite YAs of 2010 as well!

Last, but not least, the return of Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine!


Beauty Queens
Release date: May 24, 2011

Synopsis: From bestselling, Printz Award-winning author Libba Bray, the story of a plane of beauty pageant contestants that crashes on a desert island. 

Teen beauty queens. A "Lost"-like island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to email. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror! Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.

I was a huge fan of Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy so when you mix an awesome author like her, a "'Lost-like island,'" beauty queens gone savage, plus that incredible cover, I'm so totally in. 

Review — The Maze Runner by James Dasher

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Imagine waking up one day in total darkness, unsure of where you are and unable to remember anything about yourself except your first name. You're in a bizarre place devoid of adults called the Glade. The Glade is an enclosed structure with a jail, a graveyard, a slaughterhouse, living quarters, and gardens. And no way out. Outside the Glade is the Maze, and every day some of the kids -- the Runners -- venture into the labyrinth, trying to map the ever-changing pattern of walls in an attempt to find an exit from this hellish place. So far, no one has figured it out. And not all of the Runners return from their daily exertions, victims of the maniacal Grievers, part animal, part mechanical killing machines.

Thomas is the newest arrival to the Glade in this Truman-meets-Lord of the Flies tale. A motley crew of half a dozen kids is all he has to guide him in this strange world. As soon as he arrives, unusual things begin to happen, and the others grow suspicious of him. Though the Maze seems somehow familiar to Thomas, he's unable to make sense of the place, despite his extraordinary abilities as a Runner. What is this place, and does Thomas hold the key to finding a way out?

In The Maze Runner, Dashner has crafted a creative and engaging novel that's both mysterious and thought provoking.

Review:  This is one of those books that it’s hard for me to not to associate with another book.  The first time I heard about The Maze Runner it was along with someone saying “if you liked Hunger Games you’ll love it.”  So, maybe I was expecting too much when I excitedly dove into this one.  It’s not a bad book, by any means.  It was just one of those ones that wasn’t for me.

I don’t think it helped that I had trouble envisioning this maze in my mind.  There seemed to be a lot of conflicting descriptions, but I have a tendency to read fast and miss details so that just might be on me.  Same with the Grievers.  So, they’re Swiss-army slugs?  What?!

It also didn’t help that there was just so much stuff to explain that I went a bit crossed-eyed for a few pages and just stopped caring.  Characters seemed to revolve around Thomas, just telling him what was going on, what had been happening, and to just STOP ASKING QUESTIONS.  That started to irritate me a lot.  This sentiment seemed to be said over and over again, and you’re constantly expecting the payoff of, “uh, no, asking questions is what’s going to save your ass.”  And it did, kind of, but was really more stumbled upon than the result of Thomas’ curiosity.

While I did stay up late because the pacing picked up toward the end and I just wanted to finish, the plot seemed to truck along with the steady pace of “action, exposition, action, action, exposition, more exposition, really, there’s a lot of exposition we need to tell you about, crazy action, cliffhanger.”  I felt like this book had a lot of “tell” in terms of the world and the rules of it all and not a whole lot of “show” (and definitely not a whole lot of character development).  Dashner also created his own language to get around those pesky kids swearing all the time, but it seemed so forced and never really had much context so it eventually ended up distracting me more than anything.

My main issue, and what I have to say The Maze Runner lacked, compared to the Hunger Games trilogy (sorry, can’t help it, I’m comparing), was heart.  I just didn’t find myself caring for any of the characters much.  We saw them do a whole lot of cool stuff, but I didn’t feel like I really knew them, so when characters you should care about is in mortal danger, I just sort of shrugged and turned the page.  That being said, there was a nice cliffhanger that has me leaning towards picking up the next in the series and the overall conspiracy and reasons behind the maze are interesting and could be really cool.

Lit Snit Verdict: C

Cover Reveal: Trial by Fire

As you may or may not know I was a big fan of Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ werewolf tale, Raised by Wolves so I was super excited to see today that the cover for the sequel Trial by Fire has been revealed.  What do you think of the cover?  I don't love it as much as I loved Raised by Wolves, but it's something a little different in a genre where covers all seem to blend together.

Now if the June release date weren't so far away...

And speaking of forthcoming books, only 6 more days until the new installment in the Lauren Willig series, The Orchid Affair.  I’m a huge fan of this series and was pleasantly surprised by her Christmas installment, The Mischief of the Mistletoe, which followed the bumbling Turnip, a character who I never had given much thought to in the series.  After reading Mistletoe, I re-read the first few in the series and saw him in a whole new light.  Plus, there’s an appearance by Jane Austen that at first made me groan, but was delightfully tongue in cheek (much like Jane herself).  Knowing Willig, Orchid Affair will be equally fun and definitely a page-turner.

Review — Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

Synopsis (Goodreads):  The Challenge: Piper has one month to get the rock band Dumb a paying gig.
The Deal: If she does it, Piper will become the band's manager and get her share of the profits.

The Catch: How can Piper possibly manage one egomaniacal pretty boy, one talentless piece of eye candy, one crush, one silent rocker, and one angry girl? And how can she do it when she's deaf?

Piper can't hear Dumb's music, but with growing self-confidence, a budding romance, and a new understanding of the decision her family made to buy a cochlear implant for her deaf baby sister, she discovers her own inner rock star and what it truly means to be a flavor of Dumb.

Review:  I first heard about Five Flavors of Dumb over at Capillya's blog, thatcovergirl.  This was one of those books that I picked up purely for the cover.  It sounded interesting and the cover was pretty badass so I thought I'd give it a try.  However, unlike Her and Me and You, this one delivered with the story as well as the cover.

I skimmed the synopsis so quickly when I was looking into this book that I didn't even realize Piper was deaf until I picked it up and started reading.  You quickly realize Piper's deafness isn't a disability or hinderance, but it's a part of her.  John wove her deafness into Piper's character, without falling back on any kind of cheesiness or cliches.  You never forget that Piper is deaf, but it's not who she is, just another aspect of her personality.

Piper is one of those characters that you just kind of wish were real so you could hang out and become BFFs.  There's something inspiring about watching her evolve from a scared, pseudo-wallflower to the leader of a rock band.  As much as I don't want to admit it, I was surprised when I realized that this book was written my a guy.  I know, I know, a good writer can write any gender, so I should know better.  John created a fantastic, complex, strong female character that rivals, in my mind, Katniss, Buffy, and Jessica Darling.  There were moments when I wanted to shake her (mostly when it came to her utter blindness to the guy who was in love with her), but I couldn't help but love her.  There's a great moment with the band's "mentor," Baz, impersonating her father that had me laughing out loud and solidified Piper's position as favorite female character of the year.

I was impressed how well the other characters were complete, well-rounded characters.  Well, except for Will and Josh, I would have liked to see a little more of who they were outside of the band.  Josh was a bit one-note.  But Piper's parents were particularly well done.  They weren't necessarily perfect, but they weren't terrible parents either.  You could see that they were doing the best they could, and sometimes they made mistakes.  While I seriously hated her father though most of the book, his character had a nice progression.  The cynic in my wonders if he would have such a profound turnaround, but my heart is a black shriveled up husk so I'm going to go with it.  (Kidding...it's only mildly withered)

There's also real reverence for music throughout the book.  Though Piper can't totally hear their music, she finds inspiration from Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix.  She's inspired by who they were, how they came to be musicians, and how they affected millions of people as much as any of us can be inspired by the music they made.  In these moments of music history, Dumb became much more than a book about a band trying to make it.  It was about the importance of music as, not just an aspect pop culture, but an aspect of history.

Also, I can't end my review without giving some love to Ed Chen.  If I ever complain that fictional nice guys are boring, remind me of Ed Chen.  Adorable, adorable Ed Chen (See also: Piper's brother, Finn).  Score one for the nice guys, Ed Chen.  (I think I just like saying "Ed Chen")

Review: A-

Review—Her and Me and You by Lauren Strasnick

Synopsis (via Goodreads): First love, broken friendships, and heartache all play a part in this evocative, voice-driven novel about Alex, a girl whose world is ripped apart when her father’s affair splits her family in two.

Alex moves with her mess of a mother to a new town, where she is befriended by hot, enigmatic Fred—and alternately flirted with and cold-shouldered by Fred’s twin sister, Adina. Others warn Alex to steer clear of the twins, whose sibling relationship is considered abnormal at best, but there’s just something about Fred—and something about Adina—that draws Alex to them and makes her want to be part of their crazy world…no matter the consequences.

Review: I got to read an ARC of this book courtesy of Around the World ARC Tours and was excited.  The cover and synopsis intrigued me.  It sounded like a dark, complex look at love and family.  And it definitely tried to do that, though not very successfully.

It didn't help that Strasnick's writing style seems very curt and rather choppy.  Some chapters literally started with just Alex stating what day it is and where she is.  There isn't a whole lot to really get you to attach yourself to Alex or Fred and Adina.  Maybe Strasnick was going for a more bleak outlook, seeing as Alex is dealing with her mother's emotional breakdown and her father's infidelity, but it just didn't get me all that interested in the story all that much and it made Alex just seem kind of petty and boring.  Thankfully, though the plot seemed to just meander along, because it was so unembellished and stilted, it was pretty short and I flew through it on an hour-long train ride.

What really bothered me most is that we never understand why Adina and Fred are the way they are.  Adina runs hot and cold, clearly playing mental games with Alex, but we never find out why.  Fred alludes to the fact that she "has issues" as is clear with her eating disorder and almost sociopathic ways, but there's no payoff.  I don't need a resolution, but I at least need to understand what's causing her to act the way she is or deal with the fact that she's an anorexic alcoholic. Besides one incident that forces Fred and Alex to deal with her anorexia, it's never really discussed that she's going to get help.  It ends so abruptly and without any warning that I had to check and make sure it wasn't missing pages or something.

Plus, I never really got into Fred and Alex as a couple.  It seemed to me that their "attraction" was more due to the fact that Fred was there and Alex was "different."  Alex seemed to just want a boyfriend because her best friend back home had one so Fred would do even if he had a wacko sister and, at best, has a super weird relationship with her and, at worst, might be in love with her.  

I think this story could have worked as a dark, almost gothic story if it was just fleshed out a bit more.  Adina's craziness was interesting, but ultimately seemed to go nowhere so, when I finished, I just kind of didn't understand the point of it at all.  

The cover is pretty though.  Kudos to the designer.


Lit Snit Verdict: C-

Review — Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Synopsis (via Goodreads): It all starts when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for five minutes. He only needs five minutes to avoid his ex-girlfriend, who's just walked in to his band's show. With a new guy. And then, with one kiss, Nick and Norah are off on an adventure set against the backdrop of New York City and smack in the middle of all the joy, anxiety, confusion, and excitement of a first date.

This he said/she said romance told by YA stars Rachel Cohn and David Levithan is a sexy, funny roller coaster of a story about one date over one very long night, with two teenagers, both recovering from broken hearts, who are just trying to figure out who they want to be and where the next great band is playing.

Told in alternating chapters, teeming with music references, humor, angst, and endearing side characters, this is a love story you'll wish were your very own. Working together for the first time, Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have combined forces to create a book that is sure to grab readers of all ages and never let them go.

Review:  The book is always better than the movie.  (Okay, maybe not always but usually.)  I don’t know why it took me so long to read Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.  I really loved the movie so I think I didn't want to taint my love of the film version if the book was really fantastic or kind of sucked.  The movie is a great homage to New York and the music scene.  Kat Dennings and Michael Cera were adorable (though after reading the book, Michael Cera is an acceptable Nick, but nowhere near as complex and awesome), and Ari Graynor might be the funniest drunk girl ever.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered the book had everything I loved about the movie and more.  Sure, Nick was insanely emo and made outlandish statements about the state of his broken heart that made me want to smack him and Norah was so incredibly neurotic and paranoid that I…well, actually I saw a lot of myself in Norah so that’s probably why I loved her so much.  She was a little more angry that I think I am, but her insecurities and crazy self-defense tactics were a little familiar.  The dual points of view was a fun way to see how words and actions can be misinterpreted despite the best of intentions.

What I loved most about the book compared to the movie (sorry, I can’t separate the two, though I know I should.  I think it'd be the other way around if I read the book first): Tris.  In the movie she’s a throwaway one-dimensional character.  She’s a bitch.  Yet, in the book there’s so much more to her and you see why she does certain things.  It’s a great peek at the dynamics of female relationships and what we’ll do to “fit in.” 

Sure, the plot of kind of meanders at times, but I found myself not really interested in finding “Where’s Fluffy” (though that isn't as central to the plot in the book) but watching two broken people fall in love.  It might happen fast, but that’s the thing about New York.  One night can feel like a month and that’s all it takes to really connect with someone. 

If you’ve seen the movie, definitely read the book.  If you’ve read the book, give the movie a try.  They’re similar in spirit and both are infused a frenetic energy full of pop culture and New York tidbits, but each will surprise you in the turns they take with the same story.

Lit Snit Verdict: A-

Review — Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Summary (via Goodreads): Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

Review:  There's been a lot of buzz about Paranormalcy around the YA blogosphere so I was pretty excited to get my hands on this one.  I didn't know quite what to expect; this premise could be either super cheesy or fantastic.  Will this book change paranormal YA forever?  No.  But it is an incredibly enjoyable read with a clever premise and Evie is a likable character who I'm looking forward to seeing more of.

My initial thought when I started reading was "this is like Hellboy if Hellboy was a teenage girl," and really, who doesn't want to see what Hellboy would be if he was a teenage girl (minus the sawed off horns and cigars).  I loved the entire concept of the IPCA and learning about their inner workings.  From gremlins to hags, White uses a lot of old myths and legends to populate her world.  The folklore geek in me was in heaven.  I can't help compare it with Lili St. Crow's Strange Angels series a little.  I think White's world sometimes lacked a little grittiness and realism that I loved in Strange Angels, but with things like fairies and unicorns (I hope we get a peek at those in future books) it's much more rooted in magic and it has a much lighter tone overall so it works.

I also appreciated how you really saw how sheltered Evie was, growing up in the IPCA, especially next to lend.  Her exuberance sometimes bordered on over-the-top, but it was all well in character.  She was bubbly and snarky without being annoying or bratty.  Her relationship with Lend develops naturally and they quickly become too adorable for words.

I've never been a huge fan of fairies so when I saw that one of the main characters was fey I kind of wrinkled my nose.  I read Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely and wasn't overly impressed, but I think I'm just not into that avenue of paranormal YA.  However, there was something about Reth and White's description of fairies that finally made me realize how compelling they are.  Though I found myself kind of developing a crush on Reth, his abilities to control humans and the threat of being lost in his world forever totally freaked me out (and I tend to love amoral characters).  So thanks, to Kiersten for finally hitting home how frightening fairies are.  I can't wait to see more of Reth.

I do wish we got more time with the IPCA.  I found that world so interesting and compelling, I was a little disappointed they seem to be going in a different direction in future books.  I love the idea of this supernatural agency working behind the scenes of our world and wanted to see more.  Even still, I'll definitely be picking up book two in this fun, addictive series.

Lit Snit Verdict: B+

Review — The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

Summary (via Goodreads): What if love refused to die?

Haven Moore can’t control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother’s house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.

In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves¸ before all is lost and the cycle begins again.

Review: I originally came across this book from a review by Jody who counted The Eternal Ones as a book she just couldn’t put down. I've liked a lot of the books she's recommended (and she's a fellow Kelley Armstrong lover) so her positive review made me really excited to get my hands on what seemed like a fantastic new YA series. While I didn’t share her opinion that this was an “unputdownable,” it was an interesting concept.

The idea of past lives is incredibly interesting and I haven’t seen many (if any) books on this phenomenon/idea. However, it takes Miller at least half the book to get to the actual story of Haven and Iain’s past lives. Much of the beginning of the story deals with Haven’s family and her town, which have little impact later when she goes to New York. We learn all about her grandmother and mother, but they disappear once Haven ventures out on her own in search of Ethan (or Iain or whatever...the dual name thing gets old quickly).

Luckily, her best friend Beau is kept in the mix through phone calls. I have to say that Beau is probably the best gay best friend ever created in YA. He’s funny, smart, and original. He’s got his own life and tells Haven exactly what she needs to hear like “you’re acting like a crazy fool,” or “hello, I have my own life and it doesn’t revolve around you and your drama.” I love that Miller didn’t just make him service Haven’s story but created him as a well-rounded character that isn’t clichéd at all.

Between Haven’s creepy reverend, her Bible-beating grandmother, and her Pentecostal friend (who sees the future?) religion plays a big part of Haven’s story. However, Miller never really connects the dots between Haven’s reincarnation and religion. I almost feel like I would have liked The Eternal Ones better if it was either about religion and the forces that are pushing Haven’s journey along OR about past lives. The use of both was just confusing and led to a feeling like I was reading a book that couldn't figure out exactly what story it wanted to tell.

I don’t think it helped that I was supposed to buy into this epic love between Iain and Haven, but found her much more interesting on her own or with Beau. Iain just seemed incredibly controlling and condescending. He was always manipulating Haven into doing something she didn’t want to and lying to her.  He is supposed to be “like a drug” for Haven, but I didn’t really understand his charisma or power over her. I found myself hoping he was as shady as he seemed just so she wouldn’t end up with him. That said, Miller does do a good job of keeping you guessing. I felt just as lost as Haven as she tried to navigate this new world where she didn’t know who was telling the truth. It’s rare that I feel like I totally have no clue what’s coming next like I did with The Eternal Ones.

I think the concept of half lives would make a great YA series, but I doubt I’ll pick up the second book in this one. An interesting story and a couple of good characters gets bogged down by too many ideas (seriously I didn't even talk about the horribly named Ouroboros Society which is a whole other concept that would take forever to discuss) and and plot threads that go nowhere.

Lit Snit Verdict: C

I'd be interested to see what other people think of this one though, seeing as I had such a different reaction than the other review I saw of The Eternal Ones.  Have any of you read it?  What did you think?

Waiting on Wednesday — Erin

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong
Release date: April 12, 2011

Maya lives in a small medical-research town on Vancouver Island. How small? You can’t find it on the map. It has less than two-hundred people, and her school has only sixty-eight students—for every grade from kindergarten to twelve.

Now, strange things are happening in this claustrophobic town, and Maya's determined to get to the bottom of them. First, the captain of the swim team drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. A year later, mountain lions start appearing around Maya's home, and they won’t go away. Her best friend, Daniel, starts getting negative vibes from certain people and things. It doesn't help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret—and he's interested in one special part of Maya's anatomy: Her paw-print birthmark.

Any new Kelley Armstrong book automatically goes on my to-read list.  While some installments of her Otherworld series are hit or miss for me (her first novel Bitten is still my all-time favorite) she always has kick-ass heroines that are smart, fun, and a pleasure to read.  Armstrong just finished her first YA trilogy, The Darkest Powers, which I really enjoyed.  She creates a good cast of characters you can't help but love, so I can’t wait for her new YA series, Darkness Rising to begin.  It looks intriguing and maybe a little darker than her Darkest Powers. 

Unfortunately, with a release date of next Spring I’ll be waiting a while.  To tide myself over I just finished Kelley’s latest in her Otherworld series, Waking the Witch, so check back Monday for my review!

*Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine.

Review - Jealousy by Lili St. Crow

First a confession: I've been a terrible blogger/book reader.  I missed my review last week and left it all to the last minute this week.  My only excuses are that I was visiting family last week and, more importantly, The Passage is long.  How are you fairing with this month's Lit Snit Book Club selection?  I have to say, that the only time I really realize it's long is when I try carrying it on the subway with me; the story itself is pretty riveting.  I can't wait to talk about it.

Well, now that my flimsy excuses are over, on to my review...

Summary (via Goodreads): Dru Anderson might finally be safe. She’s at the largest Schola on the continent, and beginning to learn what it means to be svetocha–half vampire, half human, and all deadly. If she survives her training, she will be able to take her place in the Order, holding back the vampires and protecting the oblivious normal people.

But a web of lies and betrayals is still closing around her, just when she thinks she can relax a little. Her mentor Christophe is missing, her almost-boyfriend is acting weird, and the bodyguards she’s been assigned seem to know much more than they should. And then there’s the vampire attacks, the strange nightly visits, and the looks everyone keeps giving her. As if she should know something.

Or as if she’s in danger.

Someone high up in the Order is a traitor. They want Dru dead–but first, they want to know what she remembers of the night her mother died. Dru doesn’t want to remember, but it looks like she might have to–especially since once Christophe returns, he’ll be on trial for his life. The only person who can save him is Dru.

The problem is, once she remembers everything, she may not want to…

Review:  Jealousy is the third in St. Crow's Strange Angels series (can I just say that I am not a fan of the series title?  It just doesn't fit with the spirit of the series) and it's one of those rare series that I must go to the bookstore the DAY the newest installment comes out.  Because I feel very strongly that you need to go out and read the first book in the series, Strange Angels ASAFP (as soon as freaking possible) this review is more about the series as a whole, thus far. 


Though this series deals with a type of vampire, svetocha and djamphir, it's definitely not a vampire book (which I like, but this is in an entirely different genre, in my opinion...more supernatural YA than vampire YA).  Imagine if Supernatural's Winchesters had a little sister.  She would be Dru Anderson.  Dru's father is a demon hunter and the girl was raised in a world full of werewufs, chupacabras, and zombies.  She's more concerned with firearms and self-defense than boys or even having a social life.  She's smart and tough and might be one of my favorite female YA protagonists.  She's Sydney Bristow meets Buffy.  

What I love most about St. Crow's writing is the grittiness of the world she's created.  There's a physicality to every scene that makes you feel like you're right there with Dru.  There's nothing neat and tidy about the fights Dru finds herself in.  St. Crow does set up the age-old love triangle between Dru, a werewuf and a djamphir (vampire) but keeps changing the equilibrium of each relationship so you're trying to figure out where you stand with each character just as Dru is, especially in Jealousy, where St. Crow finally has a chance to deal with personal issues.  St. Crow's use of her own terminology when it comes to the "Real World" (what Dru and her father call the paranormal) at first takes some getting used to, but the mixture of old world terms and real legends makes the creatures even more frightening.

I have noticed as I re-read the series in anticipation of Jealousy St. Crow does have a tendency to write the same little details multiple times in a book, like the fact that Dru hates to sleep in jeans, which I think I read two or three times in Jealousy.  It's actually surprising more that an editor would let that get through than it is that she would repeat herself, but it's barely distracting when you're so engrossed in the story like I was.

I've read a lot of supernatural YA fiction (God knows there's enough out there) and I have to say this is probably one of my favorite series.  It's original, doesn't gloss over the icky bits of dealing with things that go bump in the night, and has a great action-adventure girl that I can't wait to see more of...too bad I have to wait until Spring '11...

Lit Snit Reviw: A- 

Oh, P.S., I just saw over at Book City Chick they're giving away the entire series and have an awesome interview with Lili herself! 

Review - If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Summary: (via back cover) Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones. Stay true to her first love – music – even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind? Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone except one. And it’s the only one that matters.

Review: As the story beings, we are introduced to Mia, the story’s narrator. She is seventeen, loves her family and her boyfriend and is an aspiring cellist with big dreams about a musical career. During a special snow-day outing, Mia and her family are involved in a freak car accident. Her parents die instantly, and Mia, whose body also suffers extensive damage, slips into a coma. While physically incapacitated, Mia’s spirit is released from her body and occupies a strange out-of-body state (think along the lines of Susie Salmon in The Lovely Bones) where she can only do one thing: hover over the living, deciding whether she wants to come back to them or not (which of course Susie wasn’t able to do).

Not surprisingly, this decision is difficult. Standing there, looking at her lifeless physical form and the grieving faces of those she loves that are still alive, Mia’s mind is flooded with glimpses of what once was. Death seems appealing while reliving memories of her bold, feminist mother and gentle, punk-musician father. They always understood her for what she was, and never pressured her to be anybody else. But now they’re gone, Mia feels compelled to choose and remain a part of her family’s four-member whole, a whole that should never be separated, not even in death no matter how premature.

Interlaced with the memories of her family are images of someone else very important to Mia, her boyfriend Adam. As she watches him suffer by her hospital bed, Mia relives their young romance, one memory at the time. Theirs was a rocky relationship; he was the popular rock-band bassist and she was a virtual nobody. But a common love for music brought them together somehow. Their love is atypically strong, but we believe it and it starts to seem possible that Mia’s love for Adam might be enough to make her come back to him.

Although not clearly stated, I believe that the memories Mia has of herself are most decisive in her choice between life and death. Once destined for a bright future as a Julliard student, the car crash has irreversible impact on who she is and who she wants to become. Here, the author seems to question whether childhood dreams about the future are powerful enough to keep one's the desire for life.

It’s redundant for me to say that If I Stay is a hard story. It didn’t make me cry, but it did stir up some emotions. The two main relationships between Mia and her parents and Mia and Adam are very maturely developed and I haven’t seen a better understanding between any four characters in any YA novel in a while.

Lit Snit Verdict: B (at 199 pages, this story was just a little too short)

UPDATE: So I know that one of the reasons i didn't love this book was its length. Well, guess what? The author is actually coming up with an non-sequel second book about Mia and Adam, which will be told through Adam's perspective. This second book, entitled Where She Went, will be released on March 31, 2011. What's even more exciting is the Where She Went Teaser Tour happening like RIGHT NOW. A lot of blogs are participating. Click here to check it out. -8/19/10

UPDATE #2: The cover for the If I Stay sequel has just been revealed and it looks like this:

I'm liking it a lot...even if Adam is still not featured. Click here to read more about the new cover. -8/24/10

Review - Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

Summary: (from the back cover) Annabel Greene is the girl who has everything. At least, that’s what she portrayed in her modeling shoots. But Annabel’s life is far from perfect. Her friendship with Sophie ended bitterly, and her older sister’s eating disorder is weighing down the entire family. Isolated and ostracized at school and at home, Annabel retreats into silent acceptance. Then she meets Owen—intense, music-obsessed, and determined to always tell the truth. And with his guidance, Annabel learns to just listen to herself and gains the courage to speak honestly. But will she be able to tell everyone what really happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends?

Review: Before I get into anything else, I must preface this review by confessing how much I wanted to like this book. I had never read anything by Sarah Dessen before and was very excited at the prospect of finally making my introduction to the work of someone with such esteemed YA-lit cred. Plenty of my personal friends have raved about her work and finally I had the chance to find out why.

After finishing the book Just Listen, all I can say is that I’m more than a bit disappointed. For me the book was just okay…and maybe not even that. Looking at the plot, I would have to sum it up as nothing more than what any second-rate Lifetime screenwriter could have come up to fill a slot in the channel’s back-to-school marathon special. I realize this might seem a little too harsh, seeing as how there were parts of the book that were enjoyable, but honestly the plot relied a little too heavily on the melodrama to make up for the fact that it was all a little too routine.

The main issue Dessen decides to deal with in the book is certainly important. She even tries to be as realistic as possible, drawing up Annabel as someone who opts to be silent about her problem, which to be sure is a hard approach since we’re all smitten with butt-kicking, retribution-seeking bitches like Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars) and Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), but having likened Annabel’s response to that of Melinda Sordino (Speak), I was expecting to be emotionally stirred by the inner struggles of a narrator tortured by the memories of such a violent experience. As readers we all have certain expectations and are used to certain privileges, like being privy to our narrator’s emotions and thoughts. We want to know how they feel because that’s how we develop our relationships with them. That was missing here; at least it was missing for me. Annabel was hurt and responded by retracting into herself, but Dessen pulled back a little too far, to the point where it no longer supported the story and actually hinder it. I couldn’t relate or grieve for Annabel because she just didn’t let me.

The rest of the plot, including the teen romance and the high school drama, also fell very neatly into that same Lifetime-ish format. And if I have to be completely frank, I would have to say that my age has been a factor in the way I’ve responded here. I really do believe a lot less would have been problematic had I been a little bit younger and less exposed other fictional works that take the Just Listen trajectory. Finally, I’d have to say that I wouldn’t mind it in the least if the publication of these types of novels took a slight downturn in the next few years so that I wouldn’t have to run into any more of them accidentally any time soon.

Alas, I have not given up on Sarah Dessen just yet, and am willing to take any suggestions about which one of her other books I might enjoy a little bit more.

Lit Snit Verdict: C

Review - How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford

Summary: (from the back cover) New to town, Beatrice is expecting her new best friend to be one of the girls she meets on the first day. But instead, the alphabet conspires to seat ...and more. New to town, Beatrice is expecting her new best friend to be one of the girls she meets on the first day. You know the type: very cheery, very friendly, very average. But instead, the alphabet conspires to seat her next to Jonah, aka Ghost Boy, a quiet observer who hasn't made a new friend since third grade. He’s not a big fan of people in general…but he’s willing to make an exception for her. Maybe.

Bea and Jonah are not going to have a friendship like other people have a friendship, where it’s all based on gossip and parties and what everybody else thinks. Instead, their friendship comes form truth-bound conversations, shared secrets, daring stunts, and late-night calls to the same old-timer radio show. They help each other and hurt each other, push away and hold close. It’s not romance, exactly – but it’s definitely love. And that means more to them than either one can ever really know…

For anyone who’s ever entered the wonderful, treacherous, consuming, meaningful world of true friendship, How to Say Goodbye in Robot will strike a deep and lasting chord.

Beatrice Szebo (affectionately known as Bea or Robot Girl) is a 17 year-old girl imposed to the gypsy lifestyle by her father, a biology professor who is always on the lookout for better staff positions. This translates into a string of family relocations, the latest of which takes Bea from Ithaca, NY to Baltimore, MD. Once there, Bea is promptly enrolled an uber-preppy high school attended by the city’s riches and brightest. Initially, her school life resumes as usual; Bea’s classmates seem friendly but shallow, allowing her to adopt her typical semi-outcast demeanor. But then, purely by happenstance, Bea meets Jonah Tate (not-so-affectionately known as Ghost Boy). Desiring to be the exemplary high school outcast, Jonah always eats lunch alone and has a policy of ignoring everyone…everyone except for Bea.
Jonah and Bea click instantly, brought together by a common fascination with a quirky late night radio talk show called the Night Lights where participation is always welcome and anyone can assume any identity. As the teens begin to make new friends over the FM wavelengths, they find much needed acceptance and a new, more welcoming niche in the world. Slowly, they start to transform into the happiest people they have ever been-a pair of misfits that perfectly fit one another.

Then, out of nowhere, Jonah’s life is completely altered when he receives a unexpected message from his twin brother, Matthew. Without going into any spoiler details, the sudden reappearance of Matthew has a staggering impact on the whole plot. Driven by their desire to uncover Matthew’s mysterious predicament as well as rescue him from it, Jonah and Bea turn into a pair of high school sleuths, performing undercover operations that include gender altering disguises complete with wigs, fake IDs and a few other things.
This seem like fun adventures at first, but it isn’t. Jonah has a lot at stake, much more than Bea could ever know, and as the plot takes one last sharp turn south, the Krazy Glue-like love that Bea and Jonah have for each other is no longer enough to pin him to the happiness they once shared. There is a falling-out and Jonah retreats into himself, deeper than ever, too deep for Robot Girl’s reach.

I really liked this book. Jonah and Bea are a great pair of imperfect teen characters. I didn’t like them most of the time but I loved them all of the time. It was their platonic love for each that did it. Their relationship, which I can only liken to a mixture of what siblings and soul-mates have, was wonderful. Every time Jonah disappeared, I felt the hole, the missing piece in Bea. But how do you make room for a new soul-mate when you already have one in your twin brother? Standiford answers that question by conjuring up a most interesting conclusion. A conclusion that is equal parts splendid and savage. At least those are the words that came to me as I read it.

I was also impressed by the supporting characters in the book. Standiford didn’t do anything groundbreaking by including a semi-depressed mother, a workaholic father and sting of shallow high school classmates, but she used all of them advantageously. They weren’t over-dramatized, and so I never got bored or exasperated when they popped up here and there inside the plot.

Finally, I have to give a shout-out to the designers of this book, particularly the ones who worked on the layout of the pages. The cover is nice, but the inside of the book is really beautiful. That gave my reading experience a bit of a kick.

Lit Snit Verdict: B (I do want to give this book an A, but I hold back because I feel it lacks a certain conventionality. Objectively speaking, I just don’t think everyone will see what I saw in it. So it’s a personal A and a Lit Snit B)

Review - The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Summary: (via Goodreads) Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie is navigating through the strange worlds of love, drugs, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", and dealing with the loss of a good friend and his favorite aunt.

Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower is the unique creation of author Stephen Chbosky. This book, which takes the format of an epistolary novel, describes the life of a fourteen year old boy in his first year of high school. Every few days the main character, Charlie, writes a new letter in which he updates an unnamed recipient about the events of his life. Sometimes a lot happens, other times the letters are more personal and reflective. Regardless, we continue to follow his steps into that intimately familiar territory of adolescence.

After completing the book, two distinct feeling emerge: a feeling of compassion toward the great amount of drama and trauma in Charlie’s life, and an unsettling feeling toward the strangeness of Charlie’s behavior. This eeriness is cause by the fact that he only exhibits two distinct emotional states: incredible emotional hyperactivity and complete emotional inactivity. The mystery behind his anonymity (Charlie is the pen-name he creates for himself while addressing the letters) combined with the fact that we never learn where he is from or who he is writing to also contribute to this sensation. And it’s not until we realize the strategic purpose behind his behavior and anonymity that we truly start to understand the book. It seems Chbosky envisioned his hero as the fictional representation of all of us. The author manages to give Charlie this universality by making him a perfect chameleon: Charlie is both reclusive and outgoing, both your best friend and a complete oddity, both emotionally stable and a complete wreck. The reason Charlie needs to be all these things is because he is facing the quintessential life dilemma of choosing whether he should try and satisfy others or try and satisfy himself. What complicates the matter is that he repeatedly fails to do either, which lead him into modes of depression, disorientation, and indifference.

The only times he does get some respite from himself is when he reads books and spends time with Sam, the girl that he loves. Charlie finds comfort in the books that he reads (e.g., The Stranger, The Catcher in the Rye, The Fountainhead), and you can see a 1991 version of Holden Caulfield and Meursault in him. His friendship with Sam is another thing altogether. He is in awe of her bluntness and honesty and beauty. She gives him a strange sort of comfort and he craves her on a purely emotional basis, something quite contradictory to what he is: a hormonally driven teenage boy.

Perhaps because it’s been so many years since we’ve been fourteen or maybe it’s because we never really had the time to analyze life at that age, but reading Charlie’s narrative is a revelation. The honesty in his words is stirring, packed with innocent notions about things like acceptance, self image, and the emotions of parents and siblings. His account is both wondrous and difficult to read. In many ways, what he reveals isn’t new at all but more like an old memory we’ve forgotten.

Lit Snit Verdict: B

Waiting on Wednesday - Erin

Matched by Ally Condie
Release date: November 30, 2010

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

Matched is a story for right now and storytelling with the resonance of a classic.

There's been a lot of buzz on different blogs about Matched and I hear it was the "must-get" item at BEA and I can see why. Dystopian society, forbidden love, free will versus determinism, it all sounds positively delicious. Plus, the cover is adorable! I'm a big fan of romance with a sly sci-fi twist and this book seems like it will deliver on every level. November (almost December!) is way too far away.

*Waiting on Wednesday is an ingenious idea hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine.

Review - The Vinyl Princess by Yvonne Prinz

Summary: (via Goodreads) With a summer job at Bob & Bob Records in Berkeley, California, teen music junkie Allie is ready for anything. She’s poised to fall in love, catch a thief, and make a mix that’ll break your heart. And when she blogs as The Vinyl Princess, Allie is the sort of mystery girl you can’t resist tuning into. Get ready for the vinyl revolution!

Review: In the novel The Vinyl Princess Yvonne Prinz recreates the life of a 16 year old vinyl record collector, Allie, who spends a lazy summer working in a small California record store (Bob & Bob's). Allie’s life is consumed by a singular passion: vinyl records. She lives for the crackle produced by the turntable’s needle as it dances its way to the right place, and nothing—not her mother’s miserable online dating fiasco, her best friend’s cheating boyfriend, or the thieving ways of her crush—can distract her from this obsession, which she actively rants about in a blog entitled thevinylprincess.

The unfortunate part of Al’s situation is that she was born about half a century late. Vinyl is almost extinct and the mp3-addicted, iPod listening generation that she belongs to could care less about album track arrangements or cover art. Her outdated music interest relegates her to a small group of oddballs that either work or shop at Bob & Bob’s. As mundane as it sounds working retail in a musty, hole-in-the-wall record store, Allie’s narrative manage to bring out its charms. She an eloquent observer that can give a romantic feel to everything and everyone around her, from the misanthropic co-worker lurking in the store’s stack collection, to the petty and homeless cross-dressers that practically live on the store’s premises, to the mom-and-pop eateries of Telegraph Avenue where she eats lunch.

Even those of us who could never understand the charms of clunky vinyl records can appreciate Allie’s music addiction as she includes all sort of interesting music-related tidbits throughout her narrative. After throwing us a plethora of music information and tracks to listen to, Prinz delivers a music-pinnacle of sorts in the form of a mixtape (ahem, “the mating call of the romantically challenged”) that Allie receives from Zach, a fellow vinyl purist. This is perhaps the most interactive part of the book and should the reader be invested in the story enough—like I was—they’ll assuredly listen to all the tracks listed (in their correct order) to discover Zach’s message.

The story’s actual pinnacle isn’t very dramatic. Allie was never created with some moral, personal or familial issue to resolve but is a rather content character trying to amicably deal with the issues stirred up by those around her. In a rather false-autobiography type of way, Allie was probably conceived to simulate the author, who herself works at a record store and is the active brain behind the thevinylprincess blog (which does exists in real-life and is filled with all kinds of purchasing suggestions for vinyl enthusiasts).

I liked this book; it made me happy to know that passions can bring such contentment to life, even to a teenager’s life.

Lit Snit Verdict: A

PS-Click here to listen to one of the songs Prinz raves about in her book.