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tepidgirlsummer's reviews
1092 reviews
Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
4.0
This was my first Marchetta book, which is fitting since it is also the first Marchetta book. From what I’ve read in other reviews, Melina Marchetta develops from a good YA author to an amazing YA author in her subsequent books, so I’m very excited to read them. If I like them half as much as I did Looking for Alibrandi, reading them will be well worth my time.
I saw a lot of my teenage self in Josephine. I wasn’t particularly rebellious, but I was (I say in past tense like I am now mature and delightful) moody and argumentative as hell. I went to Catholic schools growing up and while we weren’t poor, I definitely wasn’t as rich as some of the other kids at my high school, so I can sympathize with how Josie felt being on scholarship and feeling looked down upon. And coming from Italian stock, lines like “Italians are so used to bitching about people that they tend to whisper a lot even when the person is one thousand miles away or even dead” made me laugh out loud because oh, I have lived it.
The adults don’t necessarily behave badly but they certainly aren’t ideal. Josephine’s father doesn’t want to be part of her life and is very forthcoming about it. Her grandmother is a nitpicky nightmare (although I really enjoyed her stories about her youth) and smothers her daughter and granddaughter. Josie’s mom tries to reconcile her role as Josephine Alibrandi’s mother with her own personal needs, much to her daughter’s chagrin. And the nuns catch everything, as nuns do.
Josie’s female friends were the only fly in the ointment of this book. In such a female-oriented book they seemed like weak characters. For instance, Sera seemed like someone Josie was only friends with because it was more convenient than not being friends with her. Anna and Lee were all right but they still seemed like a “yes, my main character has friends” filler than anything else until nearly the end of the book.
This is one of those books I read and loved and then went right on to the next book in my pile before writing my review, so I can’t remember everything I wanted to say. Basically, I strongly urge you to read it. What are you waiting for? GO!
I saw a lot of my teenage self in Josephine. I wasn’t particularly rebellious, but I was (I say in past tense like I am now mature and delightful) moody and argumentative as hell. I went to Catholic schools growing up and while we weren’t poor, I definitely wasn’t as rich as some of the other kids at my high school, so I can sympathize with how Josie felt being on scholarship and feeling looked down upon. And coming from Italian stock, lines like “Italians are so used to bitching about people that they tend to whisper a lot even when the person is one thousand miles away or even dead” made me laugh out loud because oh, I have lived it.
The adults don’t necessarily behave badly but they certainly aren’t ideal. Josephine’s father doesn’t want to be part of her life and is very forthcoming about it. Her grandmother is a nitpicky nightmare (although I really enjoyed her stories about her youth) and smothers her daughter and granddaughter. Josie’s mom tries to reconcile her role as Josephine Alibrandi’s mother with her own personal needs, much to her daughter’s chagrin. And the nuns catch everything, as nuns do.
Josie’s female friends were the only fly in the ointment of this book. In such a female-oriented book they seemed like weak characters. For instance, Sera seemed like someone Josie was only friends with because it was more convenient than not being friends with her. Anna and Lee were all right but they still seemed like a “yes, my main character has friends” filler than anything else until nearly the end of the book.
This is one of those books I read and loved and then went right on to the next book in my pile before writing my review, so I can’t remember everything I wanted to say. Basically, I strongly urge you to read it. What are you waiting for? GO!
Withering Tights by Louise Rennison
3.0
Is it of the same caliber as Georgia's diaries? No.
Is it funny? Often.
This felt like a slow book to get into, but I thought the same of the first couple of Georgia Nicolson books and that ended up being one of my all-time favorite series. My favorite thing about Louise Rennison's writing is how she plays with teen angst and makes it fun. Tallulah's legs are about eight feet long and the people she lives with in Yorkshire are all a touch insane, so there is more than enough opportunity for angsty hilarity. I have high hopes for the Misadventures of Tallulah Casey.
Also, there is a reference to The Smiths, specifically "Girlfriend in a Coma." Bonus points!
Is it funny? Often.
This felt like a slow book to get into, but I thought the same of the first couple of Georgia Nicolson books and that ended up being one of my all-time favorite series. My favorite thing about Louise Rennison's writing is how she plays with teen angst and makes it fun. Tallulah's legs are about eight feet long and the people she lives with in Yorkshire are all a touch insane, so there is more than enough opportunity for angsty hilarity. I have high hopes for the Misadventures of Tallulah Casey.
Also, there is a reference to The Smiths, specifically "Girlfriend in a Coma." Bonus points!
The Sweet Life by Francine Pascal
2.0
Oh wow.
I read Sweet Valley Confidential a while back and it was pretty terrible. And then I found out about the Sweet Life e-serial and for some reason I decided to pay Francine Pascal for her efforts to rape and pillage my childhood memories.
My biggest concern is that Francine Pascal thinks people actually talk like this, in conversations peppered with "like" and "so totally" and, worst of all, "like so totally." I'd be afraid to have a conversation with her, honestly, lest I kick her in the teeth.
Anyway, The Sweet Life is really more of the same as in SVC, with a completely lack of continuity and the sinking feeling that Pascal never actually read a single Sweet Valley book. So "it was ok" is the best I can give this book, but I am like so totally going to read the rest of them because this one was the very definition of brain candy and I like that, sometimes.
I read Sweet Valley Confidential a while back and it was pretty terrible. And then I found out about the Sweet Life e-serial and for some reason I decided to pay Francine Pascal for her efforts to rape and pillage my childhood memories.
My biggest concern is that Francine Pascal thinks people actually talk like this, in conversations peppered with "like" and "so totally" and, worst of all, "like so totally." I'd be afraid to have a conversation with her, honestly, lest I kick her in the teeth.
Anyway, The Sweet Life is really more of the same as in SVC, with a completely lack of continuity and the sinking feeling that Pascal never actually read a single Sweet Valley book. So "it was ok" is the best I can give this book, but I am like so totally going to read the rest of them because this one was the very definition of brain candy and I like that, sometimes.
Nicole by Candice F. Ransom
3.0
Before there was James Cameron’s Titanic . . . there was Candice F. Ransom’s Nicole.
Spoiler alert: The boat sinks!
I never read any Sunfire books before this. I’d never even heard of Sunfire (I guess it was about ten years before my time) and I only came across this book because of Karen’s review of [b:Who Cares About Karen?|4015859|Who Cares About Karen?|Alison Lohans Pirot|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1338420137s/4015859.jpg|4062329], which made me wonder what books were out there with my name in the title. A few minutes with the Goodreads search engine and I had amassed a list of four books. This is the least erotic one I found and holy crap it’s also about the Titanic!!!! So I promptly ordered it off Amazon.
It’s not a great book. I’m not going to rate it based on littry merits because it doesn’t really have any. Even when I was twelve I probably wouldn’t have been crazy about this book because the whole “torn between two lovers” bit is resolved very early on and at no point in my life would I ever have thought, Well, they’ve had a two-minute conversation and they’re wildly in love, that sounds pretty logical! I liked Pierce better than Karl, purely because he seemed more interesting, but we Nicoles are a mysterious, flighty breed. Who can say why we make the choices we do?
Anyway, it gets three stars because it’s about the Titanic, it’s a cheesy ’80s teen romance, and my name is on the cover.
And yes, the description of the ship going down made me tear up. Don’t judge me.
Spoiler alert: The boat sinks!
I never read any Sunfire books before this. I’d never even heard of Sunfire (I guess it was about ten years before my time) and I only came across this book because of Karen’s review of [b:Who Cares About Karen?|4015859|Who Cares About Karen?|Alison Lohans Pirot|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1338420137s/4015859.jpg|4062329], which made me wonder what books were out there with my name in the title. A few minutes with the Goodreads search engine and I had amassed a list of four books. This is the least erotic one I found and holy crap it’s also about the Titanic!!!! So I promptly ordered it off Amazon.
It’s not a great book. I’m not going to rate it based on littry merits because it doesn’t really have any. Even when I was twelve I probably wouldn’t have been crazy about this book because the whole “torn between two lovers” bit is resolved very early on and at no point in my life would I ever have thought, Well, they’ve had a two-minute conversation and they’re wildly in love, that sounds pretty logical! I liked Pierce better than Karl, purely because he seemed more interesting, but we Nicoles are a mysterious, flighty breed. Who can say why we make the choices we do?
Anyway, it gets three stars because it’s about the Titanic, it’s a cheesy ’80s teen romance, and my name is on the cover.
And yes, the description of the ship going down made me tear up. Don’t judge me.
Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties by Lucy Moore
3.0
I found this very interesting until around the last third or so. Then the topics and the writing began to feel less intriguing. Moore does a wonderful job, for the most part, with making history read more like a drama than a textbook.
Beatle Meets Destiny by Gabrielle Williams
2.0
Eh.
This book has a neat premise—John Lennon meets Destiny McCartney, signs all over the place that they’re MFEO, etc. etc.—but it just didn’t do it for me. It’s a very superficial book, a fun idea and fun characters but everything feels more like an outline than a fleshed-out novel and no one is remotely profound. The characters are quirky, which I like, but so much of the quirkiness just seemed... forced. I felt zero connection to any of the characters. I would’ve liked to know more about them and what makes them tick.
I read this book within 24 hours though, which is quite a feat considering how long it’s been taking me to read some other books lately. I get pretty excited about Aussie YA fiction, so maybe part of the problem was just how high my expectations were.
This book has a neat premise—John Lennon meets Destiny McCartney, signs all over the place that they’re MFEO, etc. etc.—but it just didn’t do it for me. It’s a very superficial book, a fun idea and fun characters but everything feels more like an outline than a fleshed-out novel and no one is remotely profound. The characters are quirky, which I like, but so much of the quirkiness just seemed... forced. I felt zero connection to any of the characters. I would’ve liked to know more about them and what makes them tick.
I read this book within 24 hours though, which is quite a feat considering how long it’s been taking me to read some other books lately. I get pretty excited about Aussie YA fiction, so maybe part of the problem was just how high my expectations were.
The Diviners by Libba Bray
3.0
Whoa.
When I was nineteen, I discovered and fell in love with the Gemma Doyle trilogy. Ever since then, hearing a new Libba Bray book is being released fills me with girlish glee.
You may have figured out I like the ’20s, so I was on the library waiting list back when the book was still on order. Flappers! Paranormal activity! Mystery! Manhattan! And Diviners was pretty good. The murders were nice and grisly, as any well-written murder should be. The cult was super creepy. And though Evie is technically the lead main character, Bray provides a variety of protagonists from very different backgrounds with special powers who all happen to converge on Manhattan around the same time.
The only thing keeping this from four stars is how long it took me to get to the point where I was completely captivated. Much of the book seemed to be background information rather than action. The thing I loved about the Gemma Doyle trilogy was the depth each character had; Diviners seemed to lack that. Evie seemed like a stereotypical bright young thing with no interest inJericho , and suddenly she has feelings for him and we’re told that her good-time girl persona is, indeed, a persona. All this in the last forty or so pages.
I am very curious to see what will happen with the rest of the series now that the basic background info on each person has been established. I can’t picture Libba writing a dud, and this is just such an awesome concept with so many possibilities for each character.
When I was nineteen, I discovered and fell in love with the Gemma Doyle trilogy. Ever since then, hearing a new Libba Bray book is being released fills me with girlish glee.
You may have figured out I like the ’20s, so I was on the library waiting list back when the book was still on order. Flappers! Paranormal activity! Mystery! Manhattan! And Diviners was pretty good. The murders were nice and grisly, as any well-written murder should be. The cult was super creepy. And though Evie is technically the lead main character, Bray provides a variety of protagonists from very different backgrounds with special powers who all happen to converge on Manhattan around the same time.
The only thing keeping this from four stars is how long it took me to get to the point where I was completely captivated. Much of the book seemed to be background information rather than action. The thing I loved about the Gemma Doyle trilogy was the depth each character had; Diviners seemed to lack that. Evie seemed like a stereotypical bright young thing with no interest in
I am very curious to see what will happen with the rest of the series now that the basic background info on each person has been established. I can’t picture Libba writing a dud, and this is just such an awesome concept with so many possibilities for each character.
Last Dinner On the Titanic: Menus and Recipes From the Great Liner by Rick Archbold
3.0
History! And food!
This is a quick read with some historical accounts, both firsthand and second, peppered throughout. I already knew the historical facts (she said smugly) but I did enjoy the narrative way in which they were presented here. Also: pretty pictures!
As for the actual recipes, I haven't cooked any of them yet and I will certainly never be making an authentic eleven-course Titanic-themed meal for my friends and family, as the book suggests. Make your own damn Tournedos aux morilles and Homard Thermidor, buddy! However, there were a few smaller things in there that I would love to try, like the Punch Romaine--booze sorbet, yum!--and which I will probably make after Christmas, when my line of work goes back to its usual lull and the thought of shopping anywhere no longer makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon.
Three stars for being interesting and a nice collectible, but docked a fourth because when you say you've "adapted the Edwardian recipes for the modern kitchen," I don't expect to have to go hunt down rose water and quail eggs to make the stuff. (Apparently quail eggs are easy to obtain? Can anyone confirm this?)
This is a quick read with some historical accounts, both firsthand and second, peppered throughout. I already knew the historical facts (she said smugly) but I did enjoy the narrative way in which they were presented here. Also: pretty pictures!
As for the actual recipes, I haven't cooked any of them yet and I will certainly never be making an authentic eleven-course Titanic-themed meal for my friends and family, as the book suggests. Make your own damn Tournedos aux morilles and Homard Thermidor, buddy! However, there were a few smaller things in there that I would love to try, like the Punch Romaine--booze sorbet, yum!--and which I will probably make after Christmas, when my line of work goes back to its usual lull and the thought of shopping anywhere no longer makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon.
Three stars for being interesting and a nice collectible, but docked a fourth because when you say you've "adapted the Edwardian recipes for the modern kitchen," I don't expect to have to go hunt down rose water and quail eggs to make the stuff. (Apparently quail eggs are easy to obtain? Can anyone confirm this?)
Easy by Tammara Webber
4.0
I can't. I can't even.
I'll be back with a review when I have more to say besides "holy friggin' crap."
Update, 11/29/12
I read this because of all the glowing GR reviews. I wasn’t sure how much I’d like it—rape is of course a sensitive subject and I was concerned it might be treated somewhat cavalierly. Additionally, damsel in distress stories really grind my gears and this felt like it could easily turn into one of those. But I went for it, and it turned out to be such an amazing book that I didn’t even have the words to write a review until today (two days after finishing it).
Easy made me do a lot of this:
And some of this:
And then more of this:
I don’t want to spoil any of it, but I do want to address the main reason I’ve seen for people not wanting to read it: the rape. It happens in the first chapter, practically on page one. It isn’t pretty and it is hard to read through. But Webber makes sure it is an Important Issue, not a minor plot point to bring about a romance. And rape isn’t treated as the end of the world or as something to be swept under the rug. At first Jacqueline is afraid to tell anyone what happened; when she finally confesses to her best friend, Erin signs the two of them up for a self-defense class and helps Jacqueline get through it. Yes, Lucas initially saves her, and he shows up at a few other convenient times, but there’s no damsel in distress plot; with help from her friends and through her own motivation, Jacqueline learns to defend herself. Her reputation is tainted, of course, because obviously she must have wanted to sleep with Rapist A. Douchecanoe. You know how it is: Boys will be boys and the girl’s a slut.
At one point, Jacqueline has to discuss the attempted rape with a sorority. Here, the issue of whose reputation matters more and whether or not it was really rape is addressed in a speech that made me start fist-pumping like a Jersey Shore castmember.
And oh yeah, there’s Lucas.
I want him to be a real person. He is complex and wonderful and sensitive without being a weenie and he has a lip ring. And he draws, so there’s one of those really smolderriffic sketching scenes.
Their romance is slow, sweet, and considerate. And when he tells Jacqueline about the first time he noticed her? Wow. Turn the Swoon Factor up to 11, guys.
Anyway, I ended the book by doing this:
And then I spent an hour making unintelligible noises of joy. You should all go read Easy RIGHT NOW so we can have a roundtable discussion consisting almost entirely of happy squeaks. Then we can go kick some ass, because GRRRRL POWER!
I'll be back with a review when I have more to say besides "holy friggin' crap."
Update, 11/29/12
I read this because of all the glowing GR reviews. I wasn’t sure how much I’d like it—rape is of course a sensitive subject and I was concerned it might be treated somewhat cavalierly. Additionally, damsel in distress stories really grind my gears and this felt like it could easily turn into one of those. But I went for it, and it turned out to be such an amazing book that I didn’t even have the words to write a review until today (two days after finishing it).
Easy made me do a lot of this:
And some of this:
And then more of this:
I don’t want to spoil any of it, but I do want to address the main reason I’ve seen for people not wanting to read it: the rape. It happens in the first chapter, practically on page one. It isn’t pretty and it is hard to read through. But Webber makes sure it is an Important Issue, not a minor plot point to bring about a romance. And rape isn’t treated as the end of the world or as something to be swept under the rug. At first Jacqueline is afraid to tell anyone what happened; when she finally confesses to her best friend, Erin signs the two of them up for a self-defense class and helps Jacqueline get through it. Yes, Lucas initially saves her, and he shows up at a few other convenient times, but there’s no damsel in distress plot; with help from her friends and through her own motivation, Jacqueline learns to defend herself. Her reputation is tainted, of course, because obviously she must have wanted to sleep with Rapist A. Douchecanoe. You know how it is: Boys will be boys and the girl’s a slut.
At one point, Jacqueline has to discuss the attempted rape with a sorority. Here, the issue of whose reputation matters more and whether or not it was really rape is addressed in a speech that made me start fist-pumping like a Jersey Shore castmember.
And oh yeah, there’s Lucas.
I want him to be a real person. He is complex and wonderful and sensitive without being a weenie and he has a lip ring. And he draws, so there’s one of those really smolderriffic sketching scenes.
Their romance is slow, sweet, and considerate. And when he tells Jacqueline about the first time he noticed her? Wow. Turn the Swoon Factor up to 11, guys.
Anyway, I ended the book by doing this:
And then I spent an hour making unintelligible noises of joy. You should all go read Easy RIGHT NOW so we can have a roundtable discussion consisting almost entirely of happy squeaks. Then we can go kick some ass, because GRRRRL POWER!