Froi of the Exiles (Lumatere Chronicles #2)

Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


You know how authors say that once in a story the two main characters get together there is no point in continuing because nobody is interested in reading about them getting married, having babies and discussing about who takes the kids to school?

Well, with Marchetta it doesn't work that way. Because, in fact, in this book she does tell us about the Happily Ever After. She also switches the focus of attention to some OTHER interesting characters and that's where it gets tricky, for the new characters have to be unique and interesting.

So this is how, in Froi of the Exiles we find all the characters of Finnikin of the Rock, especially Finnikin and Isaboe happily together, yet we never get bored. Because this story is mainly about Froi, a trait d'union between our old, well acquainted set of characters and a whole new one, just as amazing as the others and possibly more.

The story picks up exactly three years after the events of Finnikin. All is well in the kingdom of Lumatere and people are starting to build new lives for themselves.

But it's time for retribution. Froi, who's become an expert assassin trained by the Guard, gets sent to Charyn to kill the King, the real culprit of the curse that's plagued Lumatere for 10 years.

Little did the Lumaterans know that Charyn has a curse of its own and Froi is just a pawn in a scheme that goes well beyond the assassination of its King. By meeting Quintana, that half-mad Princess who's believed to be the holder of the key to break the curse, Froi will finally discover his origins and the truth that flows in his own blood.

I always forget how Marchetta's books successfully manage to unsettle me every time. It happened with Jellicoe, with The Piper's Son and to be frank, even with Finnikin. The stories confuse me at first, their whole force revealing itself well into the narration. So it was for Froi. This book is quite a tome, let me tell you. With more than 600 tightly written pages, it's quite a brick to digest. I don't know how Marchetta managed to keep my attention for so long.

Actually, I do. The plot is quite twisted, revelations ensue one after the other and with two story lines going on at the same time, there is no TIME to get bored. The reader constantly travels from Lumatere to Charyn and viceversa, an intelligent strategy in my opinion to keep the story engaging and never dragging.

So as my head started to ache for all the court intrigue and politics of the kingdom of Charyn, I was thrown back to some beloved characters of which I knew almost everything there was to know in Lumatere. This is how you digest a 600 and counting page book.

The characterization is simply amazing, as usual. Not only we get to know Froi better - and the guy has come a looong way from the street rat we met at the beginning of Finnikin - but the reader will be mesmerized by his sidekicks as well, each and every one well developed and unique. Marchetta manages to make fictional people come alive like no other author does. Quintana is, without a doubt, her greatest success. I loved her. I truly cannot wait for the next book to come out and see more of this amazing creature.

And as in Finnikin, the message this book holds within itself is always of outmost importance. Even with the barbarities, the injustices and the abuse that take place within one country, the underlying message contained in the book is undoubtedly one of love and hope. Hope in the generations to come, to learn from the mistakes of the fathers, never to repeat them again:

"If your people meant no offence, they should not speak their thoughts out loud in front of their children. Because it will be their children who come to slaughter us one day, all because of the careless words passed down by elders who meant no harm."

This kind of story, although taking place in a fictional, fantasy world, can truly be valid universally, transcending everything: race, religion, politics, beliefs. It will never grow old and its actuality will resonate for years and years to come. That is how you make a book "immortal", I think.

Eagerly, eagerly awaiting the final chapter of this amazing story.



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Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Laini Taylor has really put me in my place this time.

I was very eager to read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, so much so that I ordered it as soon as it came out. To say that reviews for this book are gushing is a real understatement; they are, in fact, stellar.
Truth be told though, I was more than a bit biased. Lips Touch: Three Times, her short stories collection had collected the same kind of reviews. Not from me.
I'm not crazy about that book. I suspect it has a lot to do with the short story format but I just wasn't convinced by it.
My lukewarm feelings were actually confirmed when I started Daughter of Smoke and Bone and I met Karou and Akiva.

On a merely thematic level, at first I thought it was highly unoriginal.
Angels/fallen angels? Where had I read that before?
A girl who doesn't fit in, has a secret, feels she's meant for something else and falls in love with the worst possible candidate? Where have I read that before?
Star-crossed lovers? Duh.

Your average paranormal YA romance story, in a pretty package (the package being Taylor's writing.)
Ever since Lips Touch, my impression has been that Taylor takes tropes of YA which many, many authors have developed before her, and just makes them better. Because she certainly does.

BUT. I take it all back.
While the impression I had lasted for the first half of the book, as soon as the story started to unravel and to make sense, EVERYTHING changed.
First, I was shocked at how she smoothly, impeccably passed from said paranormal, average YA story to a more traditional fantasy novel. I didn't even notice it, if not after. I was reading about Prague and then, all of a sudden, I was wondering: how did I get here?
Furthermore, this is a book that goes beyond the normal scope of a fantasy novel, transcending its genre and making us readers think: it's a book about discrimination, be it religious or ethnic, about racial superiority and it's a book about acceptance with a message of hope, that things can really change if we really, really want it.
It made me think: How is beauty always good and ugliness always evil?
I love books with a message and this certainly has a deep, profound one. In this sense, I couldn't help but comparing it to Finnikin of the Rock and associate its fantasy setting with a deeper message.
Also, Taylor's worldbuilding is spectacular. I had already glimpsed as much in the third short story of Lips Touch, Hatchling, but here, yet again, its complexity and detail are taken to a whole different level. Very dark, gothic, innovative, Laini takes elements of mythology and makes them hers, constructing a world that is not only fascinating and scary at the same time, but enriches it with new elements making the imagery so sophisticated I was awed.
As her imagery is sophisticated, so is her writing style. I don't think there are many the likes of her out there at the moment. Her usage if language is so confident, so stately smooth, she is so much in her element that she uses it as a medium to plunge us into elsewhere, manipulating it to her needs.
Ultimately, this is a book about hope. It says so repeatedly during the course of the story and I felt this feeling was beautifully conveyed.
In Brimstone's words:

"Hope is the real magic."

I'll be eagerly waiting to read the continuation to this story and I can't recommend it enough. For lovers of fantasy and all its sub-genres this is a must-read.



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Virtuosity

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5/5 stars

When my good friend Maja mentioned in her review of Virtuosity that she recommended it for fans of Where She Went, I knew I couldn't possibly skip this book.
And she was right, if you like Gayle Forman, you will most probably like Jessica Martinez and this stunning debut as well.

In Virtuosity, Carmen is an accomplished violinist at only 17. Not only is she a child prodigy about to start Juilliard in the fall, but she might probably be the best out there with a Grammy award to her merit.
She is now getting ready for the most prestigious competition of all, the Guarneri, which will give the final boost to her career and consecrate her as a member of the virtuosos elite in music.
There is only one obstacle standing in her way to the fulfillment of her life dream: Jeremy King. British, just as talented, just as determined to win. Possibly more. Because Carmen has long lost the confidence she needs in her abilities or her joy for playing. Her stage fright has transformed into anxiety attacks and the only thing that keeps her from freaking out is Inderal, a medication.
But when Carmen finally meets Jeremy, she discovers that the one person she should hate is worming himself a way into her heart.
With the finals inching closer and her neurotic and overachieving mother breathing down her neck, Carmen will finally come to understand the cost of fame and decide whether she is willing to pay it or not.

In this book, for me, it all comes down to Carmen and how well Martinez managed to portray her, her life, her anxiety, her insecurities. Carmen has lived in a golden cage all her life because that's what being a child prodigy does to you. Despite living under the wing of her career oriented, manipulative mother/manager, yet Carmen manages to make all the right choices and be true to herself. I like this kind of strong heroine. No weird feminist crap (hello Pink!) but just honesty, coherency and taking responsibility for one's actions. She doesn't lie, she doesn't manipulate and despite being in a difficult situation which would have put to the test even the most virtuous of us, she manages to come out of it clean without being a wonder woman. If I had to make a comparison again to Where She Went, I'd say she is better than Mia, in my opinion.

As for the other characters, Carmen's mother is a real piece of work. Again, I was very pleased at how Martinez managed to make my dislike for her escalate gradually towards full blown hatred. I don't think I've felt so negatively strongly towards a fictional character in a long time.

One detail that made me very happy in this book was also how the author managed to keep up the romantic side of the story with close to zero sexual tension between the characters - yeah, that thing that usually keeps us romantic readers glued to the book. I was glued nonetheless.

So if you want a beautifully written book about music, love, a bit of mystery and choices that define you as a person, you should definitely pick up Virtuosity, enjoy it and then hope that Martinez will soon present us with something just as good.

Highly recommended for lovers of good YA realistic fiction.

An advanced copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher.


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Saving June

Saving June by Hannah Harrington
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the past year, at least for me, all the rage in YA contemporary fiction can be condensed in one word: Australia. Marchetta, Buzo,       Cath Crawley, Eagar were definitely my favorite reads this year.


Hannah Harrington is the exception that proves the rule. This lady is American and what is more, Saving June is her debut novel.



Harper's life is in pieces. Her sister June unexplainably committed suicide a few weeks before graduating and her family is, quite understandably, a wreck. There's no rhyme nor reason to what June did and while Harper's mother is having a breakdown and her father blissfully ignores them, too busy with his own new life, Harper is the one left to pick up the pieces and try to cope with her terrible, profound grief. The only person that supports her 100% is her best friend Laney. When a mysterious and unbearably annoying guy appears at June's funeral wake, things start to unravel in an unexpected way: with Jake's help, the two girls embark on a road trip through America, on a symbolical mission to June's final salvation, which eventually will turn into an experience that will change each and every one of them to their very core.


As for everyone else, some books strike me more than others. Sometimes it's even without a concrete or logical reason, I just get involved in the plot more. And then, sometimes, rarely, there are books that fit me like a glove. I become so engrossed in the story and identify so much with the characters that I realize that I would have uttered the same words in the same situations.

It happened with me and Harper.

Harper is not what you would call a really likable character. Aside from being unable to cope with her grief, she is bad-tempered, complex, full of anger, shuts out others, hides her insecurities behind a mask of snark and backtalk, constantly controls her emotions by denying herself the luxury to feel.

Yet I loved her honest voice, her no-nonsense attitude which I really much share to the point of sounding cynical and callous, her complete loyalty to her friend and how she relates to her sexuality. She is a tough one, not invincible, but a survivor.


This is how I like my contemporary fiction: a more adult type of YA literature, where there's no excessive taboo about underage sex, drinking or smoking (because that's what teens do, don't they?), where painful and complex themes are touched but coated with a bit of humor, where fragile family dynamics are analyzed but with a lot of great dialogue and banter.

Add to this a truly memorable soundtrack of songs which I grew up with (no unknown pseudo-intellectual indie niche music, just plain good old rock) and an incredible adventure (how cool would it be to cross the US with a van?) and you got yourself a winning combination.


Oh, did I mention the totally hot guy? + 10 points

And did I mention there is no instalove? + ∞ points


An emotional roller coaster which will make you laugh out loud but most probably shed a few tears too. People who have dealt with the death of loved ones will certainly relate to Harper and the Saving June amazing cast.


To Harrington I'd like to say: keep up the good work. Truly amazing.


An advanced copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher.







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Flat-Out Love

Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever...

-got a crush on a penfriend you never or barely met?
-pined a whole year - or more - for your summer crush?
-fallen in love with the idea of someone, idolizing him/her and thus making him/her perfect?

In other words:

Have you ever fallen in love with LOVE?

If you've recognized yourself in any of these questions, then this is the book for you.

Julie is from Ohio but she's starting college in Boston. When she arrives to find the apartment she thought she rented to be a total scam, her last resource is to call her mother's long lost college friend, Erin, to help her out and give her a temporary roof while she looks for a solution.
This is how Julie meets the Watkins family: Erin and Roger, the academic and self-involved parents, Finn, the fascinating older brother on a backpacking tour around the world, Matt, the middle brother, a math and physics nerd with a fetish for smartass T-shirts and Celeste, the 13 year old quirky sister of the family.
The Watkinses seem to be a regular enough family on the surface but Julie soon realizes that all is not well with these people's familial dynamics. What irks her the most is that she can't point her finger at the exact cause: everything seems to rotate around Celeste but there's just something that they are not telling her and that she is determined to find out...


This book would have normally received 4 stars from me.
If you're wondering to which genre it belongs, I'd categorize it as a more-adult-than-young YA college chick lit. And a very, very good one. Aside from being well written, it pushed all the right buttons for me.
It made me laugh out loud frequently, and not in a silly way but in a I-wish-I was-there-to-laugh-with-you way.
It took me back in time, wishing I could have back my late teenage years and the butterflies in the stomach feelings of my first crush(es). It really was a trip down memory lane for me.
It's got every good characterization and aside from Julie and Matt, I dare you not to be completely engrossed by Celeste and her personality.
Finally, it's got a very good plot and it's not very often that I can say that I was totally oblivious as to what would be missing piece of the jigsaw to understand the Watkins family.
I would have taken away a star, or maybe half a star, for the ending which I found excessively cheesy and slightly awkward.

That is, if this book were a regular book.
But this book is self published. Now, my - somewhat limited - experience with self published books has been disastrous to put it mildly. Bad editing bothers me a whole lot. There are already many, many published books which are badly edited, I don't really see the point in subjecting myself to books which have not undergone the scrutiny of professional eyes and been polished.
But this is NOT and I was really and very pleasantly surprised. THIS is how it's done. For me, this book is close to perfect and if only for that it deserves the final missing star.

Especially recommended for first crush nostalgics and hopeless romantics.


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Finnikin of the Rock (Lumatere Chronicles #1)

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Everything is evil that humans can't control or conquer"


What kind of book is Finnikin of the Rock?


It's a fantasy book. Evidently.
It's a love story. Certainly.
But not only.

It all starts with three friends, a prophetic dream and a blood pledge.

It continues with an invasion, a terrible curse and the struggle of one people to take back what they lost.

For me Finnikin of the Rock is a book about identities. About a people, the Lumaterans, losing their national identity and fighting to get it back, about a man who's been imprisoned for 10 years and has lost his identity, about a girl who is concealing hers to save her country and about a boy who really doesn't know who he is.

In unmistakeable Marchetta's style, we are presented with a book that not only has got an intriguing plot, is full of action scenes, adventure, amazing and detailed worldbuilding, and as usual,  characterization like only Marchetta can do, but also with a book with an underlying message that goes beyond our mere entertainment as readers.

It is a condemnation of war and of its horrors, it denounces persecutions for political, ethnic or religious reasons, it opens a window on people, at any latitude and climate, whose dignity has been taken away together with their homeland.

The words mass graves and ethnical cleansing are words which will be stuck in your throat during some passages of this book and I dare you not feel compassionate for the Lumateran people.

So, end in end, this is a book that is only disguised as fantasy but that, in reality, is well above that.

It's probably superfluous to say that I really loved this book and I can't wait to read its sequel coming out in October.

My favorite passage:

"Because without our language, we have lost ourselves. Who are we without our words?"


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Good Oil

Good Oil by Laura Buzo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It is always pleasant when you approach a book with certain expectations and then, after reading it, you realize these expectations were widely exceeded.

That's exactly what happened to me with Good Oil. I knew the book is Australian (always a good sign), that it is YA and I thought it would all be about fluff - this theory supported also by the cover that reminded me of a billboard for a Kate Hudson movie. Doesn't the girl there remind you of her?

I also suspected that this would be a coming-of-age story because, let's face it, isn't YA lit almost all about coming-of-age?

And Bildungsroman it was, although, and this pleasantly surprised me, it was the coming of age of TWO characters, a teen and a not-so-teen anymore.

Of course I am talking about Chris and Amelia.

Amelia is a just turned 15 y.o girl. She is part of a pretty shitty family, of which she seems to be the more mature member. Mature, not experienced. In fact, while on the one hand she is well ahead of her age in her interests and ruminations, she is hopelessly inexperienced and naive on the social skills front.

Chris is 22. He is in that phase of his life which he defines purgatory. He's on the verge between the lingering end of his teen - a jolly good time with no responsibilities - and manhood, time to take action, move out, do something with his life, GROW UP. At the same time though, he doesn't seem to be able to. He studies Arts at Uni, works in a supermarket and spends his time and money drinking a lot, chasing the mirage of a perfect girl and pitying himself.

When Amelia decides to get an after school job at a supermarket and meets Chris, her life - and her hormones - get shaken up well and turned upside down. While Amelia hopelessly falls in love with Chris who can't help but see her as a youngster, these two develop a friendship from which they will both benefit and that will spur them to take their lives in their own hands: Chris by being decisive and Amelia by overcoming her awkwardness in socializing.

The story is told in alternating POVs a bit à  la Cath Crowley. Both characters recounts the same events, Amelia through simple narration, Chris by writing in his diary. So while, on the one hand, we have Amelia's teen point of view and her struggle through the pains of first love, angst and adolescence, Chris' side is definitely more suitable to the adult side of the young adults category, there being sex, lots of drinking and a fair amount of drugs.

I loved Chris. His personality is explosive, charming, full of life. His voice in the book is so much more vibrant than Amelia's you wonder whose coming-of-age is more fundamental in the book.

He is such a dork. I wanted to stab myself when I read the poem he wrote to a girl, I am so thankful I never received something like that in my life.

Chris, to me, is basically what Tom MacKee should have been but never managed to. I related to him on so many levels, cheered for him, laughed at his jokes and nodded my head at both the way he eventually manages Amelia at the end and at the choice he makes.

The story is well written, realistic, and I loved the way it ended, I wouldn't have had it any other way. First love, unrequited love, family dynamics, friendship, you have it all, with a generous sprinkle of Australian slang . I strongly recommend this book, it is certainly representative of that stunning phenomenon which we have come to observe lately in YA literature that is the Australian movement. (ok, this one I made it up, but doesn't it sound nice?)


PS:

On a side note, checking out the Australian Slang Site that Arlene mentioned in her nice review, I finally found out that UGG - as in Ugg boots - means ugly and they were boots worn by surfers in the 60s to keep their feet warm while out of the water. Now everything makes much more sense in my life. Thank you Arlene.


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Eye of the Tempest (Jane True #4)

Eye of the Tempest by Nicole Peeler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 stars



Take a look at the Jane True series cast:


- a half selkie who constantly engages in  conversations with her libido;
- an attractive shapeshifter with a rather canine sense of fashion;
- a powerful gnome who always carries her rocking chair with her;
- a kelpie named Trill who turns into a pony;
- a satyr with a loincloth problem;
- a former porn star turned lesbian heiress socialite;

if you feel the corners of your mouth turning up by now, the Jane True Series might be just the thing for you.

Then, if you think you might want your story peppered with:


- incredibly funny and incredibly bad jokes (obviously complementarily);
- obscure and not so obscure pop culture references;
- an action packed urban fantasy plot populated by all kinds of supernaturals;

then you HAVE to read this series.

This book has been, so far, the very best in the series and I can't wait for the next book to come out - alas, next year.

I'm hacking off half star because of the rather huge plot hole in the middle of the book. Mr. Peeler, how could two of your most experienced characters act in such an amateurish way?

Nonetheless, a great funny UF series which doesn't get enough credit but I hope more people - with the right sense of humor - will read.




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A little Wanting Song (Chasing Charlie Duskin)

A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm kind of tired to repeat myself and say that these Aussies YA authors write well..... but anyway, THIS Aussie writes well.
This is the second book by Cath Crowley I've picked up, the first being Graffiti Moon but A Little Wanting Song was actually published before, with the original title Chasing Charlie Duskin.
While I loved Graffiti Moon I can safely say I loved this one even more. Because this book is MORE. More of everything. There is more drama, more angst, more reality, especially in its ending, which reflected perfectly what would have happened in a real life situation.

Told in alternating point of views, the story is mainly about two girls, Rose and Charlie. Charlie comes from the big city and spends her non-white Christmases in the tiny village. She is a talented, artistic, introverted and therefore unpopular girl with a problem with fitting in and an even bigger problem with dealing with grief.
Rose comes from the tiny village and the thing she wants the most is to go the big city. She is a bitchy, larger than life, outspoken and manipulative science geek whose sole purpose is to escape her less than provincial life.
Rose and Charlie are two complementary characters, two sides of the same medal, and it is when they become more or less friends that they learn a long due lesson about themselves, their families and the persons they want to be.

What struck me most about this book is that, characteristics which usually make my eye twitch and irritate me, in this book did not.

First off, Crowley's writing style, especially in Charlie's narration, is very sensorial. She describes what is around her and her feelings by means of noises, colors and metaphors related to music. Some chapters are just songs she writes. When writing in such a style, it is very easy to overdo it and fall into a redundant, flowery prose. Somehow, even though I obviously found the prose a bit purplish at times, it never bothered me or felt like she was trying too hard. It was beautifully done. Let me quote:

"I stand under the waterfall while it smashes at rocks and skin and memory. Gus and Beth take me to bands when they can, when it's underage or they know people running the gig. You walk inside, and the music's so loud the world shatters and the things that didn't make sense before still don't make sense but they don't have to while you're there. That's what it's like here. The water makes everything ice and cracks it. I'm standing under bits of falling me."

And I loved this:

"Charlie just shrugs but she doesn't do it like other people do. She resettles her skin."

Also, this book is so authentically about teenagers. Hence, drama. Hence, lots and lots of angst. But again, I never thought it was too much for me and my inner teenager. I never felt it was stupid or unjustified. There's a lot of drama going on in these people's lives but their reactions are probably what I would have had, had I been in their shoes. So, very very realistic.

Aside from Rose and Charlie, the two main male supporting characters, Dave and Luke, are amazing and funny, and I think you should just go read the book and find out for yourself.
In Dave's words:

"Is your dad better since the accident?". He nods. "People keep calling it an accident. That snake bit me on purpose. I've named it Sneaky. Sneaky had it planned. I saw its face.

Finally, this book is very Australian and I just love that. I had almost forgotten I used to have beetroot in my hamburgers in Aussie land. Almost.


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Graffiti Moon

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars.


Last week, as I was strolling with my two little ones around town for our morning promenade, I happened to pass in front of our neighborhood's church. In its front yard there was quite a congregation of young kids, their instruments and a lot of out of tune music, as they were preparing to rehearse for some parochial event. Of course my daughter, who's 4 and knows the whole Aladdin soundtrack by heart, begged me to stop and listen to whatever they were going to play.

When I said "young kids" I forgot to mention these kids where more on the 12 to 14 y.o. range than on the 16 to 18, so imagine my amazement (and my daughter's dismay) when the notes they started to strum on their instruments didn't belong to either Walt Disney, Justin Bieber or Tokio Hotel but to "Smoke on the Water"... these kids were practically born the day before yesterday, they could easily be MY kids and they were playing Deep Purple, for god's sake.

So I got to thinking that I generally tend to underestimate teenagers and think their brains work only on Wii waves, text-messaging and angst. But there are also some very talented and artistic kids out there whose sole interest in life is not limited to a remote control.

The Graffiti Moon crew, despite being a bit older, is composed by such kids. Slightly eccentric, artistic, urban teens whom author Cath Crowley still manages to depict in a very believable way, complete with teen dorkiness and false romantic ideals.


There's Lucy, the glassblower, who when asked by her best friend Jazz to compile a list of guys she would "do it with", writes down only fictional characters. Enamored with a mysterious graffiter's work called Shadow, she is determined to find him, convinced they can't be but twin souls.


Ed. Part Adam Wilde from If I Stay, part Tom MacKee from The Piper's Son, Ed is a high school dropout, a graffiter and thinks he's a total loser. After having lost his job at a paint shop, he embarks in an illicit adventure with his friend Leo which involves a pink getaway van, some bad men and some "travel plans" with Lucy.


Daisy and Dylan, trait d'union between Lucy, Jazz, Ed and Leo, are going through a relationship crisis and are, apparently the only ones who can lead Lucy and Jazz to Shadow and his friend Poet.


I loved this book. The story, told in alternating POVs by Lucy and Ed with some of Poet's poems thrown in for effect, is brilliant. It recounts the happenings of one night (a bit à la Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) and it is just great. I loved how the two POVs overlaps so the reader can be inside both heads for the same scene, I loved how, throughout the book, roles get reversed and misunderstood, like in a comedy of errors. I loved the dialogues, the characters' sense of humor, the banter: this book is just downright hilarious.


Dylan's words:


"If my like for you was footy crowd, you'd be deaf cos of the roar. And if my like for you were a boxer, there'd be dead guy lying on the floor. And if my like for you were sugar, you'd lose your teeth before you were twenty. And if my like for you was money, let's just say you'd be spending plenty."


And finally, I loved the author's writing style. Another talented author which manages to give us a realistic, cute, hilarious teenage story, coupled with believable and well developed characters with great personalities, all encased in pretty words, a bit flowery but not too purply.


I'm hacking half a star off just because I thought the ending was a bit too Gone with the Wind style. But this is, definitely, definitely, a book that needs your attention.


Another great Australian author, another great YA story.




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Front and Center (Dairy Queen #3)

Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I want to make clear from the start that despite having rated all three books in this series with 4 stars, I really think the series as a whole deserves 5 stars.


I haven't written a review for the second installment and I won't write a review about this last book either.

I'd rather tell you why the whole trilogy is great and you should go start reading it right now.


DJ Schwenk is just about one of the best characters in YA lit I have had the fortune to encounter lately. Written in the form a sort of diary the Dairy Queen trilogy just oozes DJ's hilariousness, simplicity, naivete, snark, wisdom and teen-age.

And talk about character development: in the course of the books I got to learn to love so much all characters in DJ's universe that I am really reluctant to let them go: from her father, who I disliked in the first book and that, end in end, is just a big, fluffy teddy bear who loves his children fiercely, to Curtis (Murdock should totally do a spinoff about Curtis, by the way) her super shy and brainy baby brother, to Brian, the love interest, who is a jerk but maybe not and just needs to grow up.



The books felt REALLY American to me, American sports playing a huge role in this series but it didn't bother me one bit, the fact that I knew close to nothing about them. Actually I was marveling all throughout the third book at this completely foreign concept that is getting a scholarship to college for athletic merits. Like, we don't even have sports here at Uni. And the meritocratic system I completely admire, which we also do not have.

So to me, it was really interesting to have this window opened on an instance of rural America, populated by cows, pickups, coaches, football players and hoops.

It felt very real. DJ's voice sounded very realistic and honest to me and very, very funny. I couldn't help but sympathize with her throughout the whole series.


This is a very refreshing and light read but in NO way shallow. Highly recommended.





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The Reapers are the Angels

The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Reapers are the Angels is one of those books which I find extremely difficult to review because whatever I might say about it, it is never enough and it sounds banal.

Right from page 1, it was clear to me that this book stands in a category of its own in respect to YA lit - but then, can it even be considered YA lit? One sure thing I can say is that this is literature.

In fact, one of the traits which make this book really stand out is certainly the quality of its writing: metaphorical, evocative, set to convey, step by step, through flashbacks, Temple's mal de vivre.

Temple is our main character, she's 15 but she is no teenager. Born in a post-zombie world, she is a master of survival and a lost soul and she can't stay away from violence. She doesn't know a world before the advent of the zombies and to her, they're not even a problem, they're just a nuisance with which she has to deal on a daily basis, like an explorer living in the jungle and having to be careful about dangerous animals.

At the beginning of the book, we find her living on an island, isolated from the rest of world. After a zombie tries to cross the channel to get to her, she decides to look for a safer place to live and she goes on the road.  Of course, Temple's quest for a safe haven is only useless, because what she is really looking for is some interior peace from the nightmares that torment her inside and of which she cannot get rid of. Life has been unfair to her, has set her aside from society, yet when given the chance to redeem herself and be a part of a commune, she refuses.

The story reminded, in more than one occasion, of a Tarantino movie, particularly Kill Bill, only with zombies. Its brutality and violence bordering almost on grotesque, represented as a part of daily routine and of human nature stridently clash with Temple's supposed age of innocence, which you can still detect in some part of her personality and behavior but that has been shattered by gruesome and traumatic events in her life.

As I am re-reading this review I notice I am starting not to make any sense here so I'll keep it short.I recommend this book because it is excellently written, because Temple is an extraordinary character you will not easily forget, because the story is simple but simply amazing and this is, in my opinion, the best zombie book out there at the moment.

My favorite passage from the book (but truly, there are many) to give you a taste of Bell's writing:


She leaves him sitting there, glancing back just once before she goes through the stairwell door and observing how the cloud of smoke from his cigar gets pulled in wisps out the dark gaping hole in the glass wall - as though it is his soul, too large for his massive frame and seeping out the pores of his skin and wandering circuitous back into the wilderness where it knows itself true among the violent and the dead.

Excellent book, I think I'll read pretty much anything this author publishes.



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Raw Blue

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 to 5 stars.

Another great writer delivered to us from Down Under. And NOW I understand why even at McDonald's they are so adamant on putting on the wrappings "100% Australian beef", it must be something they're putting in the food there. Aside from having the most poisonous snakes and the most dangerous animals, it wouldn't be wrong to say they also have the best YA writers at the moment. Kirsty Eagar is, without a doubt, one of such writers.

Carly is 19 and she is running away from her life. She has dropped out of Uni, reneged her family and is trying to forget a painful event in her past. Her only love is surfing and so she's relocated on the Central Coast, got a job as a cook in a café and works the night shift to surf during the day. Carly is surrounded by some truly amazing characters: Hannah the Dutch neighbor, a kid who surfs with her with synesthesia and Ryan, a guy she is interested in but who also she seems unable to let into her life. There isn't really much to say about the plot because this is one of those books, just like Melina Marchetta's books, which are founded on characters, rather than on the plot. And if you liked Marchetta, you won't be disappointed by Raw Blue.

To be honest, I didn't love this book from the beginning. My main problem, but this is probably mainly MY problem, was the surfing-related jargon. I come from a country where surfing is not really the national beach sport seeing how we have a puddle rather than an ocean here and I know NOTHING about it. Add to that the fact that I am a non native English speaker and it's easy to understand how I was really struggling with the surfing descriptions and slang. Like, REALLY struggling. I know a wave is called a wave, I know nothing about its "body parts". It made me think of that exam in sociolinguistic I took in my first year at Uni where I read that the Inuit have something like 18 different ways of describing snow. To me snow is snow. It's powdery or wet at the most. Same thing with waves. So yeah, I felt a bit on the ignorant side there and slightly bored. I definitely understood that surfing is not as easy as it looks, though.

But what I most loved about this book, aside from the amazing characters, is that it sounds so truly Australian. I complained in my review of Mercy by Rebecca Lim that I couldn't find Australia in that book, that it could have been written by an American author. Well, that doesn't happen here. This book is 100% Australian (beef). You find Australia in the scenery's descriptions, in the language (a bit too many bitumens there by the way) in the character's dialogues (I guess if husbands and wives in Aussie land call each other mate?)... everywhere. And that's what I wanted to read actually. Australian author? Australia has to be in it.

So even though I got a rather bumpy start, by half book I was in love with it. Eagar excels, like Marchetta, at describing emotions and this book is so, so realistic and honest it completely blew my mind. I'm taking away half a star only because I felt the ending was a bit rushed for my taste, I would have wanted the situation with Ryan resolved more extensively and also with Shane but I have to say that this book deserves five stars only for its writing. I hope they publish it internationally very soon because it completely deserves it - much more than other Ya authors out there nowadays.
Highly recommended!


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Looking for Alibrandi

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I knew it. I just knew that my complete love for Melina Marchetta was clouded only by her 3rd person POV. And this book is the proof that I was right! I'm relieved I got that out of my system.

I loved this book. Loved it. It's up there with Saving Francesca and Jellicoe Road. But possibly, I loved this book even more than the others. Now I'm going to tell you why.

In 1956, my grand-uncle was 16 when he kissed his mum and dad goodbye, jumped on a boat and took off for Australia in search of fortune with his aunt.

My grand-aunt, his future wife, was 3 when her whole family left the teeny tiny village of Caltrano, Italy, got on another boat and set off for the same country. They met there, married there, had children there and I'm pretty sure that's where they will die one day. They come visit once in while and, very rarely, we visit too. Last time I went there was eons ago, I was 16 and stayed with them for a whole summer.

I got to be sucked in the Italian community in Melbourne, was mesmerized by their inbreeding, shocked by their Sunday clubs where they gather and gorge on gargantuan amounts Italian food, I was rendered speechless by sold out concerts of bad, bad Italian singers who nobody in Italy wants to see ever again and that mysteriously gather huge crowds in Australia.

We're not like that in Italy, I thought. Not even close. Especially not us, in the North. When my cousin comes to Italy, he comes looking for his Roman roots, he says. And I reluctantly remind him that our family is actually more likely to have descended from the barbarians than from Romans. You think he cares? His eyes glaze over and I know he's dreaming of panem et circenses.

So that's not Italy. Except... when I really think about it, it actually is. Just... less. Emigrants in the 50s and 60s left the country and took with them all those mores and folklore that belonged to us. But then, they isolated and... mutated, in a way. But all of it is true. When I was in Australia with my relatives, all I could see where exasperated features of Italian culture, many of which belonged to the past. They even developed their own language, a mix of regional dialects and made-up words borrowed from English. Amazing.

The tomato day thing in the book? I have crystal clear memories of my gran and aunt doing that during my childhood just... in a less colorful way. And my mother in law still makes tomato sauce exactly that way every year, with tomatoes from her garden.

So.... yeah, a good part of my family are actually wogs. If you put that together with Marchetta's perceptive rendering of human emotions, her impressively smooth writing style and her usual excellence at characterization, you might see why I am actually fascinated by this book.

I swear I will read each and every word this woman will ever publish. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

No wait! I have to add this favorite quote from the book:


"I just don't trust people who have bodies that change with their moods."


Boy, was this me as a teenager.


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Eona: The Last Dragoneye

Eona: The Last Dragoneye by Alison Goodman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you, like me, loved Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, you can't possibly miss this sequel in which the epic story of The Empire of Celestial Dragons comes to a conclusion. - and YES! only two books, isn't it one more reason to read them?
On the GR synopsis up there it says this is a standalone but don't believe that, you can't possibly enjoy this book without all the background information from Eon.

I enjoyed this much more than the first one, many of the things that stressed me out in Eon were already taken care of in Eona.
First of all, the consistent amount of information about the world-building that I had to take in for this story, had already been digested: background info, protagonists' characterization, settings and so on and so forth. I was more relaxed and didn't have to pay as much attention as in Eon, where I had to build my knowledge of this world - which is quite articulated, believe me - from scratch.

Second, I was already acquainted with Eona. And since I don't like her, I knew pretty much that, as she had annoyed me before, she would annoy me in this book as well. She didn't disappoint. It is actually pretty amazing that I CAN like a story where I totally despise its main character. Well, maybe not TOTALLY but, in many instances, especially in Eon, I thought Eona was bordering on Too Stupid To Live. She sure was dense. In this one, she is still being a coward and a liar and, while being caught up in a love triangle where she shamelessly makes out with both other factors in the equation, she also acquires instant wisdom and is made the new Emperor's Naiso, responsible for advising His Majesty and being his truth bringer. Are you f***ing kidding me?
But, since I already knew her, I didn't spend my time wanting to throttle her and she was almost completely consistent with the person she was in Eon. I say almost because I was a bit disturbed by the sudden outbreak of hormones which took over her sanity after she "became" a woman. First she was a boy, then she was a nympho. Ok, I am exaggerating here but you get my point. Since she gets discovered, there is no more Eon, her past five years as a man are forgotten, if not for her outspokenness. Is this possible?
Dela, while acting as a man for the whole book, is still a woman inside, is always referred to as a "she" and I liked how Goodman kept the intrinsc difference in the Contraire. Actually, maybe I should quote:

"her head turned, stubbled cheek brushing mine."

Ok, this sentence sounds SO wrong. I laughed 15 minutes. But I digress.

***Spoilers ahead!!!****


The character that really came out and that I liked the most is certainly Ido. While Kygo is a pompous, childish, spoilt kid - true, he IS the Emperor but does he have to act all the time like everything is due to him? Eona included, I mean and I am still pretty frustrated that at the end their relationship isn't made crystal clear: yes, they love each other but she is not royal. Will she have to be his concubine while he gets a wife? - Ido is the MAN in this. Consistent with his role in Eon he is a sly, snarky, handsome, cunning son of a b*itch with his own agenda. I loved the villain! and him being so intelligent, I can't believe he died that way at the end...mh...

So truly, this book was stunning. The storytelling is superb, the plot is intricate with twists and turns that will keep you glued to the pages, the pace is breathless and the battles epic.
There is also a lot of violence and gore and they're very visual, so be warned: not for the squeamish.

I have just one last complaint. While the cover of Eon was simply gorgeous, this one I didn't like much. What's with the skinsuit? Eona could't possibly have worn that.
And most importantly: what's with the blue eyed, Caucasian Eona?

I hope Alison Goodman is planning to keep on writing fantasy so detailed, well plotted and original because if so, I am going to buy each and every of her books. For lovers of Eragon, you will be blown away by this.


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Where She Went

Where She Went by Gayle Forman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IF I STAY.





While reading this book, I kept on thinking about Megan McCafferty. Huh? I know this doesn't make much sense, but really, this is how I wished Perfect Fifths had been written. Don't get me wrong, I loved Perfect Fifths, loved the 80 pages conversation, the haikus, the Barry Manilow karaoke that so many people despised.

I just wish this had been the style of that book too, so to close the story with a bang. Anyway.


This book takes place three years after the events of If I Stay. Mia has left for Juilliard and left Adam, almost without a word, never coming back. He's become a rock star, gone on with his life and his music but he's wounded. Mia's left a terrible void, too many things unexplained.

Until, in New York for some interviews before leaving for a long and stressful European tour, Adam meets Mia for one more night and the dam of emotions choking inside him finally breaks, yearning for closure.


What an emotional, intense read. I was a wreck yesterday after finishing it. I read the last 40 or so pages twice because I'd rushed through them the first time. Needless to say, I loved it. There are not many authors nowadays that manage, with their words, exploiting the power of my imagination, to make a mess of me. I'm tough. So, kudos to Gayle Forman for achieving that.


While If I Stay was told from the point of view of a comatose Mia, Where She Went is told from Adam's POV. Adam is such a wounded, broken, lost person it hurt just thinking to be him. True, the real victim of that terrible accident was Mia. She lost her parents, her brother, her life as she knew it. But how would it feel to see the person you loved more than anything, that you tried to help recover from a terrible trauma, that you basically annihilated yourself for, reject you and walk away without even a glance? How do you pick up the pieces of what is left? Forman did a great job in characterizing a truly broken heart, because that is what Adam is, his heart is broken and Mia left with a piece of it.


I had conflicting emotions about Mia for a good part of the book. Just like Adam, I couldn't understand her cruelty. What happened to her was certainly life-changing and awful, but it does not forgive her behavior. She complains a lot about people giving her free passes out of pity, but that's exactly what she asks of Adam, who has to let her walk away to put together the pieces of her life by herself. The impression she left on me in this book is of a person who has to have it her way: her difficulty with Adam's gigs, her refusal to go camping because "I sleep in a bed", her ultimatum to Kim not go to school near her, speak of a difficult person. While Adam's love and dedication for Mia transpired from every single page of this book, I found myself wondering if the love she felt for Adam was as strong and as genuine as his. At times, I really thought she didn't deserve this guy.


But ultimately, the truth is I can't really judge Mia because what do I know about losing a family in the span of a few hours? What do I know about undergoing endless surgeries and running a risk of brain damage? What do I know about post traumatic stress disorder? It's difficult to say how one would react in such a situation and so, yet again, Mia gets a free pass. From me, too.


A book about love everybody should read.



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Saving Francesca

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It's not as if I didn't know that this book was good - it was made pretty clear to me not only by the awards it won but also by endless book recommendations and raving reviews from fellow Goodreaders. AND I actually should have expected it from first hand experience - I loved, loved, loved On the Jellicoe Road.


Still, I'm in awe. How does she do it? How does she take an utterly banal plot - it's the story of a teenage girl during her Junior year in high school and her struggles through social difficulties but, most importantly, through her mother's depression - and makes it a jewel of unforgettable friendships, familial love, pearls of wisdom, deep truths in life that just makes me want to highlight passages, read them countless times to memorize them and make them mine?

Well, it's easy to answer. Through vivid characterization, stunningly beautiful writing and witty amazing dialogues. I mean, the characters ARE truly amazing, every single one of them, down to Mr. Brolin. The story is touching, sad, intelligent, REAL.

As far as writing style is concerned I am going to put Marchetta up there, with Megan McCafferty and her Jessica Darling - which, by the way, kind of reminded me of Francesca at times - among my favorite writers.

The only little mole in this great texture of a book was the choice of surnames for some of the character. I´m Italian, you know. Why would you want to call your protagonist Francesca Spinelli? It means spliff, for god's sake. And Trombal has a suspicious assonance to the slang term for f*ck. Was it intentional?

I hope Australia will give us more of these fabulous writers it's nurturing lately because I am really impressed, not only by Marchetta who beats them all but also by Alison Goodman and Lucy Christopher. Fair dinkum!








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