Posts Tagged "Guest Reviewer"

Stephanie Kuehnert’s book, Ballads of Suburbia is our Book of the Month for November here at yaReads. As part of the promotion, Stephanie agreed to review a book that she read – and loved – recently. Enjoy!

Harmonic Feedback – Tara Kelly

When I was a teenager I looked desperately for books that reflected me in someway—not necessarily an exact mirror of my life and experiences, but I wanted to find characters that were having similar emotional experiences, that were feeling as confused by life as I was. There was just something about watching a character work through their life that helped me to work through my own problems. And it was a relief to see that I wasn’t alone in feeling the way I did. Unfortunately when I was in high school, it felt like those kinds of books were few and far between.

I wish I could go back in time and give my teenage self Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly.

The main character, Drea, in Harmonic Feedback has a hard time making friends for two reasons. One, her mom moves her around all the time. And two, according to her mom and the various shrinks she’s seen through the years, she’s not “normal.” She’s been labeled many things, the term “social awareness” is thrown around a lot, and ultimately she is diagnosed with Asperger’s, an autism spectrum disorder. As Drea puts it, “All I know is I make sense to me—it’s other people who seem complicated.” When I read that line, I thought that’s how I felt!  And I found that thought reoccurring throughout my reading of the book. I don’t have Asperger’s, but when Drea points out certain things about human behavior—especially how people say one thing but mean another or say one thing and do another—I remembered so many occasions when I felt just as mystified as she does by the way we communicate. This book sums up so well why it’s so hard to fit in and be happy at high school.

I haven’t really seen any YA books that deal with Asperger’s so I imagine those readers who share Drea’s diagnosis will be thrilled to find someone with a similar experience in fiction, but I think everyone who reads this book will actually relate to Drea and find themselves realizing as I did that the way we think and behave especially in high school is so *not normal*!

The book begins when Drea moves to Bellingham, Washington. She meets Naomi, a girl from across the street who Drea’s grandmother warns her against because she’s trouble. Naomi has her fair share of issues with people at school, too, but she is an incredible singer and Drea, a musician and sound engineer likes making music with her—though Drea is a little bit uncertain about the other social experiences she has with Naomi, especially those centering around boys. However, there is a boy named Justin, who Naomi grows to like. A lot. In ways that she hasn’t experienced before and is struggling to understand. He’s a music fiend like Drea and has a past that he wants to keep secret the same way Drea is attempting to keep her psychological diagnosis and history a secret from her new friends.

I got an advanced copy of Harmonic Feedback and was excited to read it because I knew it was about music, a passion of mine. But I quickly realized how it was about so much more than music. I was so sucked into Drea’s story that I read the whole book in one night, something I am not often able to do, but with this book, I just dropped everything and read. I had to. If I put it down, I’d immediately find myself picking it up again, needing to know what happens next.

I was in tears at the end—again something that doesn’t happen often for me. And this is not to say the book was totally tragic. There was definitely tragedy, but so much learned by the characters that it left me feeling hopeful. And honestly I wasn’t just hopeful for Drea, I was hopeful for everyone who reads this book when it comes out in June 2010 because it will make you think about how you communicate. It will make you think before you keep a secret and hopefully it will encourage you to open up. And it will make you really reconsider what “normal” is or whether “normal” even exists at all.

I love books with well-drawn characters, people you can grow to understand whether you relate to their experience or not and Harmonic Feedback is filled with these. I adored Drea, Naomi, and Justin, but the side characters were so rich as well, especially Drea’s grandmother, who truly gives you a lot of insight into Drea in her own way.

I love books that make you think about the way you act and treat others, that open you to new perspectives and Harmonic Feedback is definitely that kind of book.

I’m not a reviewer and I never write book reviews because I don’t really know how to convey my joy when I read a book I really love, but this is one of those books. It’s going on the all-time favorite list and I recommend that everyone get their hands on it when it comes out.

Probably the official blurb I wrote for the book sums it up best:

“Harmonic Feedback is an impossible to put down, must-read book. Brilliantly written and filled with music, but even more so with emotional truth. Anyone who felt like an outsider will relate to Drea’s story, which is not just about Asperger’s, but finding love and true friendship and trying to hold on to it. We’ve all been there, but you get a fresh and honest take on teenage life through Drea’s eyes.”

Really, I can’t do it justice, so just do yourself a favor and pre-order it now!

A few days ago we posted an interview with Maria V Snyder, author of Storm Glass and the Study Series. Maria was kind enough to sit down and write a review of one of her fave novels at the moment. Enjoy guys!

Maria V. Snyder’s Book Review – Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

After you read this book, you’ll never look at the moon the same way again. The premise of the story is rather straight forward—an asteroid slams into the moon (this isn’t a spoiler – it’s written on the back cover).  The moon is then knocked closer to Earth.  What follows is an extremely realistic account of how life on Earth is altered—and not for the better.

The story is told by 16-year-old Miranda.  She’s writing everything that happens in her journal.  It’s first person point of view.  As most of my readers know, I’m very fond of first person. And it works for this gripping story.  Miranda details the catastrophe.  She has a unique perspective and being in her head is a skillful way for the author to show how Miranda’s family deals with the ensuing craziness.  It’s fun to read about her mother’s quick intelligence while Miranda rolls her eyes and swears she’ll never wear the long johns her mother buys.  The reader can see the importance of the mom’s actions, without it being preachy.

The only thing that bothered me with the journal format is I had to wait to find out where Miranda lives.  The author’s efforts to be true to life should be commended—a person writing in a journal wouldn’t use their names or the city’s name very often (maybe not at all).  However, I was annoyed—especially when tidal waves are taking out New York City and I wanted to know where the story characters are in relation to them.  Readers get a hint on page 43 that she is in northeastern Pennsylvania, but I didn’t learn her town name until page 174 (Howell).

This story really made me appreciate the basic things in life, like hot food, a warm house, and electricity.  And as the story progresses, it’s like watching an auto race knowing a big crash is coming and unable to look away. I also wanted to start stockpiling can goods and medicine in my basement.  This is definitely not for the feint of heart – but Miranda’s character arc is well done and by the end of the book, I was very proud of her.

When I’m reading a book, I’ll get to page 50 and ask myself this question: Do I care?  If the main character were to die on page 51 would I be upset?  If the answer is yes, I keep reading.  If no, then the book is tossed into my library donation box.  Did I care about Miranda and her family?  Yes – very much!  I even thought about them when I wasn’t reading the book (another sign of a good story).

My favorite part was when Miranda’s mom asked if she or her brothers were doing any school work, “Well, of course not.  We tried to look shamefaced.  Bad us for not doing algebra when the world is coming to an end.” I loved that last line!

There is a companion novel to this book called The Dead and the Gone.  It is from the point of view of a teenaged boy living in New York City during the same time.  I’m not sure I have the courage to read it, yet I can’t stop thinking about it.  Guess I’d better fill my basement first.

Lauren McLaughlin is the author of the quirky tale, Cycler. We interviewed Lauren a few months ago and now we’ve got another McLaughlin treat for you. She’s been kind enough to sit down and review one of her own fave YA novels for your reading pleasure.

She chose Cintra Wilson’s Colors Insulting to Nature.

Colors Insulting to Nature – Cintra Wilson

Cintra Wilson’s Colors Insulting to Nature is a teen novel that’s not quite a teen novel. Though it follows the escapades of fame-hungry Liza Normal throughout her teen years and into young adulthood, it does so with the knowing backward gaze of someone who’s survived the whole ordeal.

Liza Normal is a singer of very modest talent who, largely because of the deluded longings of her topless juggler mother, dreams of being famous. No amount of failure or rejection can weaken this desire and we follow Liza all the way from her mother’s disastrously comic re-staging of The Sound of Music (complete with topless juggling) to her cabaret debut as dominatrix, Venal de Minus. Liza never achieves her goal of becoming so famous that “people will see me and cry,” and that is the subversive point of this novel. You can’t have everything you want if only you try hard enough. Dreams don’t come true. And why is that? Because your dreams are stupid, that’s why.

Talk about a refreshing twist on the coming of age tale.

The story takes place in the eighties and is so chock full of achingly detailed cultural references that reading the novel is like re-living that decade. If you’ve ever seen the movie Ice Castles (and if you’re over thirty, be honest, you have) the novel is worth the price of admission merely for Wilson’s brilliant deconstruction of that film. I never realized until I read this novel just how central to my development as a sexual being that underwear scene was. Colors is full of just this sort of cringingly self-aware detail. And smack in the middle of it all is a love story that is as brutal as it is sexy. Liza’s high school relationship with the cruel, witty, and gorgeous Anton is in many ways a mirror image of the savaging she receives from the world at large. That she loves him just the same is the extra twist of the knife. But then who among us hasn’t, at one time or another,fallen victim to a disastrously potent longing for someone who has contempt for us? And isn’t this in essence what we’ve done to ourselves as a society by allowing mass media to re-engineer our most primal human desires into a vain quest for fame. In the end, it’s this unflinching examination of our unhealthiest desires that distinguishes Wilson both as a storyteller and as a cultural critic. That she also manages to evoke genuine vulnerability and tenderness˜especially in Liza’s relationship with her best friend–elevates the novel above mere satire. Wilson is not pointing a finger and laughing at these characters. Nor is she asking us to laugh at ourselves. That would be letting us off too easy. This is a novel of ideas that implicates the reader by making us want Liza to achieve her deluded goals,even as we criticize her for having them.