From Bad to Cursed; Katie Alender

From Bad to Cursed by Katie Alender
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I can see where this series would be popular among girls looking for a paranormal (but not wolves or mermaids or vampires) series but for me, I read it thinking "I've read this before, haven't I?"

We join the story about a year after the first book's events, and Alexis is getting settled into her new home and her new school year. Then Kelsey, her formerly-possessed sister comes home, and Alexis' world takes a turn for the worse. There's a Stepford Wives club, The Sunshine Club, that doesn't rely on drugs or lobotomies but on worship of a 200-year-old(ish) spirit. Pledge allegiance to him, and you'll be taken care of all your life.

It's the hints of Alexis' and Kelsey's rebellion that keep this from being a one star book, but for me, it was just too derivative.

ARC provided by publisher.

Forever; Maggie Steifvater

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've said it before: the mark of a good series/trilogy is if someone new can pick up a book and relatively easily get into the story, without half the front end being past-book exposition. This is one of those books.

So, Sam is "cured" (we think), and Grace is sometimes human but more often wolf, and Cole is doing drugs (but in the name of research, not trying to get high) and Beck is still a wolf and Isobel is being Isobel. So far, so good. Then Tom Culpepper decides that the only way to fix things is to do a full-on, helicopter supported wolf hunt... and the fun begins.

Shifting between the voices of Sam, Grace, Isobel and Cole, Forever balances romance, fear, the paranormal and teenage angst. There were moments when I really didn't know what would happen next, which is always nice. I was also happy with the ending, especially the fact that there was no epilogue. Not every thread was tied up, so we readers can decide for ourselves what happens next.

ARC provided by publisher.

The Hangman's Daughter; Oliver Potzsch

The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Historical mystery what is always dicey - that mix of the history with what people expect from a mystery needs to be delicately done. I think this is one of the better ones, with the History appearing somewhat organically rather than being a hook upon which to hang the mystery (much as I loved them, the Brother Cadfael's fall into that category).

The setting is superstition-laden Germany after then Thirty Years War, a time when witchcraft exists and doctors are, well, possibly more dangerous than the actual disease. And then there's the town hangman, a needed pariah. This fact is drummed into us virtually every chapter, one of the books flaws. The mystery surrounds the question of who killed one of the orphan boys? Of course, suspicion falls on the midwife, who of course is tolerated but is always a little suspect because women are not supposed to have knowledge or power. When a major fire breaks out, the new leper house runs into building issues and more children are found dead, it's clear that she's in league with the devil and should be tortured to death.

The hangman's actions and detective work sometimes require the reader to take a leap of faith; the relationship between his daughter and her semi-suitor (semi because he's the son of the town doctor, who is also suspect, but she's the daughter of the hangman and must not mix with/marry a townsman) was one of the realer aspects in the book. As the mystery unfolds, you get a lot of herblore thrown at you (with sometimes no explanation) and at times I wondered if the author expected readers to have greater knowledge of that time period than most will have. I also felt that the identities of the "devil" and his henchmen didn't need to be shrouded in as much mystery from the readers.

Still, if historical mystery is your cup of poison, this is a good book to read. It's doubtful this will become a series, a good thing.

ARC provided by publisher.

Why We Broke Up; Daniel Handler

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All traces of Lemony Snickett are gone from this story, which is to Mr. Handler's credit. Here, he gets the teenage girl angst/heartbreak right - it's almost like he was one once, himself.

Min is "different" or "arty", depending on to whom you're talking. Ed is co-captain of the basketball team, noted for a string of ex-girlfriends and famous outside school for his basketball prowess. They meet at Al's Bitter 16 party (Al being one of Min's BFFs, Ed crashing the party because he could). The next few weeks are filled with dates, basketball games, parties, getting to know each other and ultimately breaking up.

I knew far too many girls who gathered up a box of "his" stuff and burned it in an exorcism rite. Min chooses instead to return everything to Ed, with a long, long letter explaining what each item meant and why they were breaking up. Now, in the real world, Ed wouldn't even look at the letter and the box might be pawed through in search of something he could give to his next girlfriend. We have no idea if Ed is that boy, or if he reads this: our only experience of Ed is through Min's eyes.

ARC provided by publisher.

Pray for Silence; Linda Castillo

Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the first book, Sworn to Silence, and was looking forward to the next episode in the series. Unfortunately, this wasn't quite up to expectations: the writing wasn't as tight, the descriptions a little overdone. There were a few "what happened to the editor" moments as well, most around those times when the action switched to John Tomasetti's point-of-view (that seemed particularly thrown in, rather than a well-thought-out section).

In this second outing, an Amish family (all seven of them) have been brutally murdered - it could be a murder/suicide, but Kate thinks not. As the investigation grows, the links between the Amish and the English are explored as are Kate's feelings about being formerly Amish. Her relationship with Tomasetti also grows, although it's not clear where it's going. By the end, the case has no real resolution in terms of why - the who is clear.

I might give this one more to see if the series rights itself, because it does have possibilities. But if it doesn't...

Shatter Me; Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I'm sure I'll be in the minority here, as everyone is looking for the next dystopian trilogy but, well, I didn't like this. The premise started out interesting: Juliette is in solitary, in part because people think she's dangerous (when she touches people, she electrocutes them and accidentally killed a toddler three years previously). Then one day Adam is brought to be her roommate, and she teaches him about the food and showers and so forth. Adam, it turns out, is the boy she fell in love with back in third grade. They're brought to a military compound, where it turns out that Adam was actually spying on her for Warner, the power-happy commander of this sector. Warner wants to use Juliette's power for evil, but Adam knows that Juliette is pure good. Hijinks ensue, and we end up in the rebel encampment. To be continued...

Ok, we've read that before, right? Then there's the bird - birds don't fly in this world, but she's dreamed of a white and gold bird that does fly, and just happens to be tattooed onto Adam's chest. Hmmm. It's not just the overly familiar elements that made me cranky, it was the writing. Poor Juliette is either choking, paralyzed with fear, quaking, trembling, breathless, shocked, desperate or just plain petrified. Much of the writing is overly adjectived and as a result, the action and the characters suffer.

ARC provided by publisher.

My Name is Mary Sutter; Robin Oliveira

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Let me just say that Civil War historical fiction is not my preferred read, so my giving this three stars shows that I was pleasantly surprised by this novel.

We start in pre-war Albany with the three Sutter women, two of whom are midwives. One night Mary, the daughter, is on her way to see Dr. James Blevens - who, by coincidence, needs her help delivering a baby. Mary's purpose is to apprentice herself to become a surgeon and James turns her down. The war starts, and she travels to Washington to become a nurse, where Dorothea Dix also turns her down. Despite this, Mary forces her way into the Union Hotel and ultimately learns how to do amputations. Throughout the war, Mary proves again and again that she is not only capable of doing hard, "men's" work, but also that she doesn't take no for an answer.

The medical conditions are primitive, to say the least. And looking at their methods with 21st century eyes, brutal and barbaric. Mary's protofeminist attitude that she's smart and capable is interesting, particularly as it doesn't have modern overtones. I was less excited with the cameos from Miss Dix, President Lincoln and his cabinet. There were one too many coincidences in the story (James needing Mary just as she was heading there, Mary going to the Union Hotel and meeting James' mentor, etc.), and I got tired of the continual reminders that Mary was not a beautiful woman.

Copy provided by publisher.

Vanished; Sheela Chari

Vanished by Sheela Chari
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Neela wants to be a musician, and is thrilled when her grandmother sends her a veena - one that has both a History and a Curse. What's a veena? It's a stringed instrument, and in India, those made by Guru are the most prized, and Neela's is one of his. She brings it to school to show off to her class, which turns out to be a mistake: it's stolen. From there we have threats, the mystery of who (and why) it was stolen, hunting for clues, an escape from a locked room and a mad leap onto a moving train before the veena is returned to its rightful owner.

Because this is for younger readers, none of the characters are fully fleshed out, and some of the relationships seem to be a bit stereotypical. Still, that's probably not something the target audience will notice. What they will notice is that there could be more explanation of the Indian terms and culture, and less explanation of the Boston part of the adventure.

ARC provided by publisher.

The Burning; Jane Casey

The Burning by Jane Casey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Apparently this is Ms. Casey's third Maeve Kerrigan mystery, but the first to be published/promoted here in the US. It's a darker procedural, so cozy lovers stay away!

There's a serial killer in London, nicknamed "The Burning Man": he uses a stun gun on women, then viciously beats them and sets them on fire. We're up to the fourth woman killed, and victim number five appears. However, there are some discrepancies between this murder and the previous ones, and DC Kerrigan is asked to proceed as though this is a different case. There's a twist that I saw coming (I think that I've read too many of these *and* watched too many episodes of "Criminal Minds" and the various "Law & Orders", among other things), but otherwise this was a well-written mystery.


ARC provided by publisher.

The Hand That Trembles; Kjell Eriksson

The Hand That Trembles by Kjell Eriksson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This wasn't a bad mystery, but it wasn't great, either. This is actually two (and a half) mysteries: the years-old murder of Nils Dufva, a woman's severed foot found on a remote beach, and the years-old disappearance of a politician, Sven-Arne Persson. The link is the detective squad, with Ann Lindell being the prominent tie.

Set in Uppsala, Sweden (and even remoter areas near the Sea of Aland) and - for a while - in Bangalore, India, these stories unfold rather slowly. The severed foot is our first mystery: whose? how did it get to the beach? This strand takes us to a peninsula inhabited by three couples, and a bunch of bachelors. Their lives are interrupted by the investigation, but one senses that for most it's one of those passing storms. The other strand starts in India, with Sven-Arne Persson living a semi-precarious life as an illegal inhabitant after having walked out of his life as a county politician in Uppsala. When a former neighbor recognizes him, he returns to Sweden to confess to the murder of Nils Dufva (an unsolved - or cold - case). The question of why he did it is the more critical one, and the answer might surprise the reader.

My problem was that it seemed that the author had two mysteries, neither particularly substantial, and decided that rather than fleshing either out she'd merge them into one book. Maybe it's a translation issue?

ARC provided by publisher.

Stick; Andrew Smith

Stick by Andrew Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Stick" was born with an implausible name (Stark) and one ear, a combination that is sure to bring him grief as he grows up and when he grows to be a stick of an 8th-grader, it just confirms it. Luckily, he has his brother Bosten to help him out.

Stick and Bosten live in one of those homes you hear about but can't quite believe: abusive parents, incredibly strict rules and no warmth. That the two rebel by stealing their parents car, going out late at night to get high (and, with a friend, blow stuff up) is unsurprising. Nor is Stick's certitude that he is ugly and unlovable. And when Bosten is caught making out with his friend Paul, it's not surprising that the only realistic response is to run away.

Despite their upbringing, both Stick and Bosten seem quite normal and open to others. Their story will interest mid-teen readers.

ARC provided by publisher.

Birds of Paradise; Diana Abu-Jabar

Birds of Paradise: A Novel by Diana Abu-Jaber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Set in the time just around Hurricane Katrina in Miami, this novel about a family that has fallen apart really resonated with me. Told from the viewpoints of the four members of the Muir family, you see how Felice's disappearance has affected each of them. Avis, Brian and Stanley are still shocked and in intense pain five years later - they have problems with intimacy and trust. Felice is living essentially on the streets, still grappling with the guilt that drove her away from home.

Slowly, over the course of this book, all four find ways to come to some sort of internal resolution and to start living again. The metaphor of Katrina and the recovery from the damage done is an apt one: any family that has faced this sort of breakdown must feel as though they are in the midst of a hurricane.

While not marketed to the YA audience, this book will appeal to both adults and teens.

ARC provided by publisher.

Among the Wonderful; Stacy Carlson

Among the Wonderful: A Novel by Stacy Carlson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There's one born every minute, P.T. Barnum famously said, and yet this book makes it clear that he's every much a sucker as the rest of us. Chaotic and more interested in promotion than actually running his museum (or being with his family), Barnum's ability to provide New York with "wonder" in the 1800s was unparalleled. However, he is not the focus of the book, just the undercurrent to the lives we explore.

I don't think that the characters in the book actually existed, and the timeframe the book covers seems to collapse the actual 15 year existence of the museum. However, the lives of Ana (professional Giantess), Emile (taxidermist and self-declared caretaker to the living animals), the unnamed African tribesman and the other "wonders" certainly come alive as stand-ins for their real-life counterparts. The humiliation that the wonders feel as they participate in their own exploitation, the lack of access to Barnum and real control over their lives, and the ultimate camaraderie they attain is clear to all readers.

ARC provided by publisher.

Escape from Zobadak; Brad Gallagher

Escape from Zobadak by Brad Gallagher
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I couldn't tell if this is supposed to lead to a sequel(or start a series) because too much remained unexplained by the end. The book starts well, with Uncle Gary's disappearance and Billy and Sophie starting to piece together some of the odd clues that lead them not into a wardrobe but into a nightstand.

It's the world inside the nightstand and its links to the outside world that need work. For example, the gift boxes Uncle Gary gives the children have odd numbers on them, yet only one is pertinent to the story: will the others lead elsewhere? Do the toys have meaning? And the endless descriptions of this wooden world could have been edited down to make way for more character integration. It was as though the author was so excited about this world that the action and people became an afterthought.

Copy provided by publisher.

Lost Memory of Skin; Russell Banks

Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The story of the Kid (no other name needed - his birth name is tainted by his past) and his life could be seen as a cautionary tale about the way in which we treat sexual offenders. But Banks has interwoven this story with that of the Professor, an incredibly odd sociologist purportedly studying the intersection of homelessness and sexual offenders, and the resulting story is more than the sum of its parts.

Sexual offenders in Calusa County, in what appears to be southern Florida, are prohibited from living near any where near a place where children could congregate (school, playground, library) and are thus restricted to three areas: the swamp, an airport terminal, or the Causeway, an underpass near the bay. This is where the Kid has lived since getting out of prison, along with his iguana Iggy (named for Iggy Pop). The twin catastrophes of a hurricane and police raids change the dynamic of this area and the lives of the men trapped there.

The Professor tries - somewhat - to rescue the Kid, but only for as long as his research makes the Kid necessary. His Prometheus Society-level IQ and his obesity, along with his desire to create an alternate reality for whatever it is he's doing, make the Professor one of the odder characters I've "met". The Kid finds himself trusting the Professor, much to his surprise.

By the end of the book, the Kid is essentially back where he was at the beginning, without Iggy (shot during the police raid) or a job, but resigned to his life and what society thinks of him. The Professor is dead, killed by his life and lies.

What dropped this from a 5 to a 3 was the level of digression into description and trivia. Had that been trimmed, the plot would have been more compelling and our connection to both the Kid and the Professor would have been closer.

>ARC provided by publisher

The Beginning of After; Jennifer Castle

The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is another of those "what happens after your family dies" books - in this one, Laurel's family (along with Mrs. Kaufman, a neighbor) are killed in a car accident following a Passover seder. Laurel claimed too much French homework, and David (the neighbor's son) went off to be with his friends; Mr. Kaufman was driving and is now in a coma.

We follow Laurel over the next year and a few months of her life as she copes with her loss, getting on with her life, while living with her grandmother (who has moved in with Laurel). She also has the opportunity to confront the Mr. Kaufman, and her relationship with David, with whom she was close prior to middle school, slowly repairs over their shared loss and confusion. Her reactions felt real, particularly the way she cared for the animals at the vets, where she's taken a summer job). But there was something about this that didn't quite carry the emotional impact of other books in this genre - I cared more about the animals than the humans.

ARC provided by publisher.

Bronxwood; Coe Booth

Bronxwood by Coe Booth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ty's life is pretty complicated: his moms lost custody of Troy (his younger brother, now in the foster care system and with a family he doesn't like), his pops is in jail for the third time (but getting out soon), he lives with two drug dealers (even though he's not involved with that), and he's trying to get Adonna to go out with him... or is it really Jasmine he's interested in? Over the course of the summer of his 16th year, Ty will deal with all the above, not necessarily in the "happily ever after" sense (his decision making process isn't always the best).

Told in Ty's voice, this urban lit look at life in the Bronx (Bronxwood being one of the many projects in the borough) isn't as rough a read as some in that genre can be. There are times when you wonder why he is making the choices he's making, or what we're not hearing that led him to the point he's at, but overall it feels as though you're spying on his life.

ARC provided by publisher.

Conquistadora; Esmeralda Santiago

Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This saga of life in Puerto Rico from the 1830-60s, seen through the eyes of slaves on a sugar plantation and Ana, the high-born, convent-educated Spanish woman who schemes to build her, her family's and her ancestors legacy on that island.

We start in Spain, moving through the world of strict social strata and behavior, where Ana lives as the unwanted daughter in her family (three brothers died at birth). When she marries, it is to Ramon, who, with his twin brother Inocente, will inherit property and business on Puerto Rico; Ana's ancestor was one of the first Spaniards on the island and it is through his descriptions of his journeys that Ana starts to dream of her life there.

Life on the plantation is nothing like the lives she, Ramon and Inocente led in Spain, but their dedication and hard work start to make a go of the farm... until Miguel (Ana and Ramon's son) is born and Inocente leaves to get married. Misfortune follows, as Inocente is murdered on his way to San Juan and Ramon never recovers from his grief. Ana is left on the plantation by her in-laws in exchange for Miguel.

Over the next twenty years, Ana fights to keep the land profitable and marries the mayorduomo of the property, while all around her the slaves are treated as, well, slaves, with beatings, being locked into their barracks at night and being sold away from their families. As the Civil War in the US occurs and Abraham Lincoln is assassinated, tensions between the blancos and the slaves grows.

We also learn about the history of some of the other islands and the history of a few of the slaves. This isn't an epic saga in the same way that Gone With the Wind or Belva Plain's novels are, but the in-depth look at the lives portrayed does fit that genre. It was also interesting to learn more about the history of slavery not here in the United States.

ARC provided by publisher.

When She Woke; Hillary Jordan

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There have been far too many dystopian novels recently, but this one I really enjoyed. The world Ms. Jordan posits is all-too-supposable: Roe v. Wade has been repealed with Sanctity of Life laws taking over(with some help from a syphilis pandemic), and faith-based parties are in power, while advances in genetics and virus control have given us the ability to "chrome" criminals for a period of time. This dying of the skin, and occasional televising of people incarcerated, is supposed to deter criminal activity (unsurprisingly that it doesn't).

Taking The Scarlett Letter and updating it to this future world makes sense. Even though this does remove some of the suspense from the plot, the question of how this world will handle Hannah's sin and her desire to find both freedom and herself makes it an interesting read. I particularly liked the way in which Hannah's certitude of belief changes over time.

ARC provided by publisher.

Melody Burnins; Whitley Streiber

Melody Burning by Whitley Strieber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Melody is a teen sensation, a singer and actor in the Miley Cyrus mold. Her mother appears to be the driving force, with public outbursts that often embarrass her daughter - except that these are calculated to gather publicity and get Melody more positive press. They've moved into the Beresford, one of LA's premier addresses, and Melody juggles her sitcom (Swingers), recording her new album and preparing for concert at the Greek Theatre.

At night, however, Melody is convinced that there's someone spying on her from within the walls of her building. She's right: the crawl spaces, chutes and shafts are home to Beresford (ne Robbie), who has hidden within the building since he saw Luther kill his father. Surviving by entering apartments and eating the residents' food, and taking clothes from the garbage, he is starting to realize he's a little too large for some of those spaces. He also falls in love with Melody.

The blending of the two stories, as well as the addition of Luther's plans for the building and the "squatter", ends with more excitement than I'd thought there'd be at the start of the book but the ratcheting up of the tension and action doesn't feel that forced.

ARC provided by publisher.

The Princess Curse; Merrie Haskell

The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a great blending of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and "Beauty and the Beast"! Set in Sylvania, an Eastern European country places near the borders of Turkey, Moldova, Hungary and Transylvania, Reveka's life has changed from studying in a convent to being the herbalist's apprentice in a castle. Here, she tries to win the dowry promised by the Prince to the one who solves the curse his daughters are under: why do they have bloody, blistered feet every morning, why do those that see them at night end up in a coma-like state, and what happens to the men that swear to rescue them?

The way in which the author blends the two stories is quite clever, as is the addition of what appear to be traces of local myths (Vlad Tepes is referenced several times). There's no "happily ever after" here but there is an ending left open that could lead to a sequel.

ARC provided by publisher.

Falling Together; Marisa de los Santos

Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many of us had incredibly intense friendships when we were in college and felt that those friends would remain the most important people we knew beyond college - it didn't always work out that way. Pen, Cat and Will were an inseparable trio until a few years after college, when they separate. Cat goes off to get married to a man neither Pen nor Will like (or liked back in college), and Will and Penn discover that without Cat they don't quite know how to be friends.

Just before their 10th reunion, Will and Pen get an e-mail from Cat, asking them to meet her at the reunion. They go, but Cat never appears. Instead, Cat's husband Jason is there, looking for Cat. In the intervening years, all three have changed yet their bond is still such that of course Will and Pen will join in the search.

The exploration of those intense friendships, the ways in which the change, the nature of love and what is truly important is wonderful, the occasional delving into soap opera dropped this from a five to a four.

ARC provided by publisher.

Between; Jessica Warman

Between by Jessica Warman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Liz is one of those Queen Bees - not just pretty and "popular", but also a total bitch to those she doesn't feel meet her standards. The daughter of an anorexic and a workaholic, the step-daughter of a committed spiritualist and step-sister to her BFF Josie, Liz has what appears to be the perfect life. Except that she's been killing herself running and counting fat grams... and on her 18th birthday, she dies.

Liz' ghost is met by Alex Berg, a non-entity at her school who was killed in a hit-and-run accident about a year prior to Liz' death. The two search through Liz' memories and her friends and family's reactions to her death to find out what happened. Did she die because she was slightly drunk, slightly high and having a hypoglycemic episode? Or did someone "help" her? Of course, during the course of their "investigation" Liz realizes what a bitch she was to others and what her friends and family were really like, although it's too late for her to do anything about it.

What happens in the afterlife doesn't quite figure in to this, as opposed to in Elsewhere, although the theme of finding out what happened after your death is like The Lovely Bones. Still the elements of both will appeal to readers.

ARC provided by publisher.

Jane Austen; Catherine Reef

Jane Austen: A Life Revealed by Catherine Reef
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jane Austen isn't just for adults, particularly with the recent rash of movie adaptations. So how perfect is it that there's a readable middle-grade-level biography of the author? Unfortunately, the subtitle is misleading: because of the dearth of actual evidence (even what Miss Austen looked like is in question), this is hardly a life revealed. More about the times in which she lived would also help put the stories, and her life, in context; the synopses of the various books were good, if a little overlong. However, any student interested in learning more about Miss Austen's life was like will find this a good starting point.

ARC provided by publisher.