Portrait of a Woman

Sunday Brunch #9

2012-02-05T17:14:00.000Z

Hi guys!

How are you on this snowy morning?

You can put chocolate cupcakes on my doorstep, I am not putting one foot outside!

Sunday Brunch is making a comeback and I have exciting news and links to share :)

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Theme week:

I am organising from 27th February an LGBT teen novels week to participate in LGBT History Month. There will be reviews and a guest post by James Dawson, author of the wonderful Hollow Pike. If you would like to participate, send me the link to your review and I'll link it in the Introduction post.

To check out the LGBT History Month events, go to their website (here).

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Book groups:

I participate in various book groups at work (woman fiction, crime and literary prizes) but I have recently joined a Queer Fiction book group through the website Meetup and I am loving it! The first book I read for it was Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown and the second was Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg and it was really interesting reading both of those. So expect some "what we discussed" paragraphs when the reviews come up!

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I went to the Patrick Ness and Jim Kay event for A Monster Calls last week in Foyles and it was fantastic! The event was packed and even though many of the people were your usual YA author event crowd, there were several actual children (le gasp!) who were completely made of awesome.

I'll probably do an event report next week so you can have all the deets! I was really thrilled to see (in realz) some bloggers I had never met before and to get my book signed!

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Talking about Patrick Ness, he tweeted the link to this Rolling Stones article about bullying, anti-gay climate and teen suicide in America [link here]. This article just made me very angry and sad. I can't believe this type of attitudes are still going on...

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RHCB and Transworld have given us an even better reason to buy a book by bringing Lauren Kate's Fallen In Love and Sophie Kinsella's I've Got Your Number jackets to life! If you download a free app on your smartphone, you only have to put your phone in front of the cover and the author photo to see the animated jacket and the message from the author. Check out Lauren Kate's animated cover:

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I was very happy to learn in the Bookseller that WH Smith was promoting cross-over YA titles more directly to adults via promotional section (here). Young Adult books keep growing and growing and they aren't just being read by teens! While searching for the link I stumbled upon this article focusing on YA books and why they are growing (here), it is from July 2011 but still really interesting!

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The brilliant Bali Rai was on Radio 4 last week and you can listen (here) to him argue that stopping talking about race is the best way to stop racism.

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Strange Chemistry is a new imprint by Angry Robot dedicated to YA SF, Fantasy and everything in between. Amanda Rutter (Floor To Ceiling Books blog) is the Editor and she has already signed Kim Curran with Shift and Sean Cummings with Poltergeeks (find the blurbs here) as well as Gwenda Bond for Blackwood (blurb here).
Strange Chemistry is also holding an Open Door fortnight from April 16th to April 30th where unagented authors can send in their manuscripts (find all the details here).

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If you are a dragon fan (oh come on, I *can't* be the only one!), you can finally fulfill your lifelong ambition of drawing one by following this step by step tutorial by award-winning illustrator and author Emily Gravett on the Guardian website.

Which has led to THIS masterpiece:

I know what you're thinking,

I really feel I missed a career in illustration too....

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That's it for this week you guys, have a great time in the snow and don't break a leg!

Happy reading!

Caroline x

Heart Of Stone - M. L. Welsh

2012-01-19T23:25:00.000Z

Summary from Amazon:

After a wonderful summer sailing, Verity Gallant just wants life to stay the same for ever. But as she should know by now, not everything in life turns out as we would like.

The land is shifting beneath the ancient harbour town of Wellow, causing mysterious caves to appear in cliff faces, terrifying rock falls and dangerous landslides. And the earth isn't the only thing crumbling... Verity is thrilled that Jeb has returned, but their feelings for each other threaten her friendship with Henry and Martha.

Once again Verity and her friends are embroiled in a tale of evil, intrigue and lost love, as a powerful force works its way towards Wellow, hell-bent on putting an end to all happiness. The Heart of Stone is the key, and the race is on to find it...

~~~

Heart of Stone is the second book in the Verity Gallant series, if you haven't read Mistress of the Storm, the first book in the series, find my review [here]. This review will have a couple of spoilers for the first book so don't read any further if you don't want to be spoiled!

I absolutely adored Mistress of the Storm so I was very excited to read Heart of Stone and very intrigued to see where the story would take Verity this time around. And I was not disappointed! The sequel is brilliant and Verity has become one of my favourite heroines!

This installment sees Verity, Henry and Martha face a new challenge as they start their school year. The land seems to take a life of its own and it shifts beneath their beloved Wellow. It is unveiling mysterious caves in cliffs and causing landslides and rockfalls. Sand also seems to spread everywhere and you can't do anything without finding some in the most unusual places. The population of Wellow also seems affected and people are unable to get any sleep because of nasty nightmares and the town is slowly disintegrating because of the land. But soon, our heroes discover that all these events aren't just a coincidence and that the disappearance of the Mistress of the Storm has caused an unexpected consequence.

I don't want to spoil the book for you guys so I won't say what this consequence is, but let me tell you that it will be as original, surprising and thrilling as the first book, if not more. It seems Wellow has been keeping more than one secret!

M. L. Welsh is delving more into the mythology she created in the first book surrounding the Original stories and we are getting a much better insight at some of the characters and stories. It also shows how original the whole setting is and I find it to be a refreshing story among all those doomy-gloomy apocalyptic books drowning bookshops these days. Not that this is all cupcakes and unicorns either as there are some chilling moments, but Wellow seems like such a beautiful and magical place just waiting to be explored!

The book is also about love and friendship and how these can go wrong during hard times. And hard times the characters face, as some invisible force seems to be determined to end all happiness in the world. I really love how positive the books are and how being friends is about what you go through together and how much you are willing to go through for what you feel is right. It doesn't hurt that there is a bit of romance in the story either. From eternal soul mates to first love, the romance fans (such as myself, that goes without saying) will really enjoy this book!

I could go on for hours about this book! With a fantastic cast of character, some thrilling adventure, a pinch of mystery and a budding romance, Verity Gallant's adventures are a must read!

Info: Books are perfect for teens and tweens (and adults clearly :) ) and for both boys and girls!

Thanks to RHCB for sending me this fantastic book for review!

Heart of Stone, by M. L. Welsh | January 2012 | Random House Children's Books | Book proof from the publisher

Blogoversary and Apologies

2012-01-15T20:30:00.000Z

Why hello there stranger!

Yes, okay, no, I know, this blog hasn't been really used at all for a month now and hardly this year, and you thought it was all over, but I'm STILL HERE!

I truly have no excuses, but here, look at this adorable picture of a puppy!

Okay so some of you still might be dubious... Forgive me?

Yes, I am shamelessly attempting to corrupt you with puppy pictures!!

Other than that, it is my blogoversary - two years! Yippee! - which feels a bit like a non-event in light of the present circumstances... *coughs* I'm really sorry for letting you guys down!

Well I have been thinking about blogging A LOT for the past few weeks (months?). I used to love blogging and would trade sleep hours and chocolate snacks in a heartbeat to post articles, but over the course of 2011 I lost the motivation and will to blog.

Part of it was the general atmosphere of blogging which felt more like an obligation as opposed to doing it for the pleasure and part of it was my new job working in a publishing company where I felt like I was working on the other side of the curtain (which, as it happens, is a Wizard of Oz reference not a household furniture metaphor).

But these past few weeks, I've realised that I actually miss blogging. I miss the endless discussions about books (which I am obviously having in real life with real people (shocker!) but still). I miss doing my special theme weeks and I miss spotlighting lesser known authors/genres. I loved doing both my Lesbian Teen Novels and Japanese YA Novels weeks and still now, I get a hundred of hits a day on my Lesbian Teen Novels articles, which makes me think that those theme weeks are of some use or interest to someone somewhere.

These past couple of weeks I've read absolutely wonderful novels, some were feisty adventures, others were eye-openers and I will probably keep the stories with me for a while. And I want to talk about these stories, these characters, these ideas in those books. I hadn't realised that giving up blogging was also giving up all those things I loved doing. And I really don't want to do that, so I am going to try to have a bit more organisation and post articles semi-regularly. Posting several times a week on my own just doesn't seem possible (especially since I unilaterally and for no rational reason whatsoever decided to learn Japanese and that I will have homework (HOMEWORK!!) for the first time in three years) (well it did sound like a good idea at the time when I said "I am learning Japanese" in front of my mirror while doing some badass karate moves but that's off subject), but I will try weekly updates at the very least!

Okay so I'll try being a bit more organised than that. Fine.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break and I wish you all the very best for 2012 (and that includes fabulous books - of course)!

Talk soon :)

Caroline x

The Friends - Kazumi Yumoto | Japanese YA Novel Week

2011-12-09T23:10:00.000Z

I am reviewing this book as part of the Japanese YA Novel Week I am co-hosting with Nina at Death Books and Tea.

If you would like more information about the week, head over here.

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Summary from Amazon:

Kiyama and his friends Kawabe and Yamashita become fascinated and curious about death when Yamashita's grandmother dies. They wonder what a dead body looks like and if the dead person becomes a ghost. They hope to see death firsthand by spying on an old man who looks like he will die soon. But while they watch the old man, he watches them. Soon their fascination for each other turns into a friendship that will change their lives forever.

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This is one of the most beautiful stories I ever read about friendship.

Kiyama, Kawabe and Yamashita are three young friends who spend their time between school, cram school and sports. Neither has the best of situations at home or is the most popular at school, but they rely on each other. When Yamashita's grandmother passes away, the boys voice their concerns, beliefs and questions about death. It turns out that they are all fascinated by it, not in a morbid way, but they are just afraid of the unknown.

Kawabe's mother talks about an old neighbour who is on the verge of death, and the boys decide to see for themselves what death is about and start spying on the old man. When the old man realises what the boys are doing, an interesting friendship develops.

I haven't read many YA books which talk about death the way this one does. The boys are young and innocent and they have genuine concerns about death. They don't really know what it's like to grow old and they certainly don't know what happens when a person dies.

In a theme linked to death, the book also mentions old age and by observing the old man, the boys understand better what happens when a person grows old. The friendship they have with the old man is so adorable and shows just how much people can benefit from inter-generational contacts. The story also stresses the point how people can change throughout their lives and how one day's action doesn't mold your personality forever. There really is a before and an after in the boys' personality and it really is quite interesting to see this develop in a 100 pages or so.

The book is also about friendship and there really isn't anything like your childhood friends who know you for who your are, flaws included, and who accept you without ever judging you. The three boys don't have the perfect family or school life but they have each other and that's what matters. Their friendship progresses as the story goes and you know that what happens during that summer when they are spying on the old man will stay with them forever.

This is a very short book and unlike The Girl Who Leapt Through Time where I would have wanted more, I felt that the length was just right in this one. All the aspects of the story are balanced and there is enough character description and depth to the story that I didn't feel the story needed anything more.

The writing is also very subtle and because the story is seen through Kiyama's eyes, it is also very believable. There are some very emotional moments in the book and I have been very touched by the story (read = I cried my heart out).

This is a truly beautiful book and I just want to share it with as many people as I can (really, that's how much I loved it!). It is brilliant for both boys and girls, for middle grade and older readers, and it is also a brilliant book to discuss (may it be the friendship, solidarity, death and the relations between younger and older generations). Trust me on this one, read it!

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time - Yasutaka Tsutsui | Japanese YA Novel Week

2011-12-08T07:52:00.000Z

I am reviewing this book as part of the Japanese YA Novel Week I am co_hosting with Nina at Death Books and Tea.

If you would like more information about the week, head over here.

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Summary from Amazon:

One of Tsutsui's best-known and most popular works in his native Japan, The Girl Who Leapt through Time is the story of fifteen-year-old schoolgirl Kazuko, who accidentally discovers that she can leap back and forth in time. In her quest to uncover the identity of the mysterious figure that she believes to be responsible for her paranormal abilities, she'll constantly have to push the boundaries of space and time, and challenge the notions of dream and reality.

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The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a collection of two short story by Yasutaka Tsutsui, who s one of the most famous science fiction writer in Japan. These two stories are some of those light novels I was mentioning in the intro post of this week: they are very short and, in the case of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, have an animated film based on it.

The first short story, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, tells the story of fifteen year old Yazuko who discovers by accident that she can leap through space and time.

After an accident in the biology lab, Yazuko inhales a product and faints. She doesn't think much about it but feels different ever since. Then when she is about to be crushed by a truck, and wakes up in her bed, she realises that she can leap through time. with the help of her friends Kazuo and Goro, she will try to understand her power.

I truly liked the story, especially after reading the end and how she came to have her power but I would have preferred reading an entire book rather than a novella! There's only so much you can fit in 50 pages so I thought there wasn't enough.

I felt that the dialogues were a bit off (which I didn't think in the second story) so I don't know whether it's the writing or the translation.

It is a sweet story and opens new perspective when you read the end.

As for the second story, The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of, it follows Masako, a high school student who has an irrational fear of heights and Prajna masks and who wants to get to the bottom of it with the help of her friend Bunishi. Masako also wants to help her little brother Yoshio with his night terrors.

I like this story better and I found really interesting how Masako would try to face her fears and help Yoshio face his. It is also interesting how both of them came to have those fears. It is quite fascinating how the mind works and through Masako and Yoshio we have two examples of why some things or ideas come into our mind and mold our behaviours.

I didn't notice the writing as much as in the first story, and I thought the writer could really build the tension through the various events in the book.

Those two stories are short and sweet and present interesting concepts: time-travel and the psychology of fear. Judging by the language and the action, I think these books are for younger readers. I am told the film of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is better to watch than reading the book because it goes deeper in the character description etc.

Schoolgirl - Osamu Dazai | Japanese YA Novel Week

2011-12-07T01:00:00.001Z

I am reviewing this book as part of the Japanese YA Novel week I am co-hosting with Nina at Death Books and Tea.

If you would like more information about the week, head over here.

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Summary from Amazon:

The novella that first propelled Dazai into the literary elite of post-war Japan. Essentially the start of Dazai's career, Schoolgirl gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language. Now it illuminates the prevalent social structures of a lost time, as well as the struggle of the individual against them - a theme that occupied Dazai's life both personally and professionally. This new translation preserves the playful language of the original and offers the reader a new window into the mind of one of the greatest Japanese authors of the 20th century.

A day in the life of a teenage girl, on the verge of becoming a woman. She is dealing with a depressed mom, coping with the recent death of her dad, school and the other problems girls like her deal on a daily base. While her inner turmoil is boiling, she keeps a cool façade when it comes to portraying what she feels. Sometimes hypocritical, sometimes sad but always interesting.

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Schoolgirl takes you on the emotional rollercoaster that is a day in the mind of a teenage girl. The girl might seem like a regular teenager on the outside, whining like a spoilt child and preoccupied by mundane things, but on the inside she lays bare her personality. It is slightly voyeuristic to read as we are privvy to her most intimate thoughts. The girl is on the verge of womanhood and you can feel how desoriented she is by the whole process of growing up and dealing with her isolation and grief. Her father has passed away and she is trying to live with her grieving mother and without her sister who has moved away to live with her husband.

This very short coming of age story is quite simply perfect. In one day of the girl's life, we can get a glimpse of her personality, her aspirations and her sadness. All her emotions are more intense as if everything was seen through a magnifying glass. Happy moments are lived ecstatically and down times take a form of gloomy depression which seems to drain the life out of her. This entire day spent in her head is an exercise of introspection where she thinks about herself and how she can improve her actions to be the person she aspires to be.

A sort of duality comes out when we realise that the girl is conscious of her own flaws and of being quite unremarkable, but at the same time craving for more and for something extra-ordinary to take place. Her opinion of herself is quite bad as she is aiming for purity and anything less looks "uninspired". On that account, she is wholly uncompromising and that is why she is quite severe in her opinion of others. She wants to be herself and genuine but at the same time she realises that she doesn't have much to offer the world. "I want to live beautifully" is her aspiration but she knows that "genuine beauty is always meaningless, without virtue".

The girl also wants to be taken seriously and as an adult. Away from the innocence of youth, she is old enough to see when her mother lies or pretends not to be hurt by her grief. By wanting to be taken seriously she also wants her mother and others to pay attention to her. She loves reading and thinking about someone else's life as she says "The sly ability to steal someone else's experience and recreate it as if it were my own is the only real talent I possess."

This is a very short book whose message seems to me quite universal. It is definitely a must read for teenage girls (and parents of teenage girls for that matter). The writing is beautiful and I spent the whole time highlighting sentences (that's why I have been quoting the book during the review). The first person point of view is a trademark style for Osamu Dazai. He is considered as one of the most important fiction writer of the 20th century Japan.

It is as much a work of fiction about a teenage girl as a very interesting basis for a discussion on the various themes present in the book: individuality, feminity, beauty, etc.

Real World - Natsuo Kirino | Japanese YA Novel Week

2011-12-06T08:00:00.000Z

I am reviewing this book as part of the Japanese YA Novel week I am co-hosting with Nina at Death Books and Tea.

If you would like more information about the week, head over here.

~~~

Summary from Amazon:

In a suburb on the outskirts of Tokyo, four teenage girls drift through a hot smoggy August and tedious summer school classes. There's dependable Toshi; brainy Terauchi; Yuzan, grief-stricken and confused; and Kirarin, whose late nights and reckless behaviour remain a secret from those around her.

Then Toshi's next-door neighbour is found brutally murdered and the girls suspect Worm, the neighbour's son and a high school misfit. But when he disappears (taking Toshi's bike and cell phone with him) the four girls become irresistibly drawn into a treacherous vortex of brutality and seduction which rises from within themselves as well as the world around them.

~~~

Real World is a small book which creeps up on you. The story is in turns narrated by four teenage girls: Toshi who always wants to do the right thing, the intellectual Terauchi, Yuzan who is trying to overcome the grief after her mother passed away and who has to deal with her homosexuality and Kirarin who isn't a sweet innocent girl as she would like to let on. Toshi's neighbour gets killed and the teenage girl thinks she knows who did it: the woman's son, Worm. When Toshi's phone and bike are stolen by Worm and he contacts the four girls, a psychological thriller develops as he tries to plays one girl against the other and as each girl tries to play him.

The book is as much about the murder of Worm's mother as it is about the teenage girls. Natsuo Kirino's talent is to really get those teenagers in all their angst and boredom and how they build a world around them to shroud their real selves. While reading, you get a strong sense of discrepancy between the girls' "social" self and what you can hear inside their heads. You do wonder how those four very different girls could ever be friends, but they have at least in common the masked personality and a willingness to hide it. You get a real sense that no matter how different those 5 teenagers are, they share the same culture and a lot of beliefs.

The book is quite haunting in the sense that you want to shout to the girls to stop playing with Worm, or to Worm to get a life, but you can only stand and watch while they continue getting deeper and deeper. You don't really understand if this attraction the girls have for Worm is a mix of fascination for violence or boredom, but you realise that the four girls are a bit more than they let on to the others and not as naive as one might think. Each girl has her own issues and they are all trying to fight society's expectations in them and get away from the conformity that is demanded of them.. You can see their curiosity to the outside world and how they just want to get out of the boxes they live in, no matter how comfortable those boxes are.

Worm is as affected by people's expectations as the girls are and even imprisons himself in them when he wants to give a meaning to what he did. Japan isn't a stranger to those crimes and there has been some anxiety in the country over a possible youth crisis where teenagers would lean to violent behaviours because of the rigidity of the school system.

The writing is very good and you can't even tell this is a translation of a work originally written in a foreign language. I have read this more than six months ago and I can still remember what I felt when I read this book.

I definitely recommend the book in general to people who are interested in Japanese culture because there are some very interesting scenes about the girls' lifestyles in there, but fans of noir fiction/psychological thrillers will definitely fall for this book.

Info: There are some violent and upsetting scenes in the book so I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone under 14 years old.

Japanese YA Novel Week - 5th to 11th December 2011

2011-12-05T00:33:00.012Z

Hi everyone,

I am kicking my Japanese YA Novel week with a little intro post telling you why on earth Japanese literature is my new obsession and give you some interesting websites I keep ~~stalking~~ browsing.

As you can see from the gorgeous logo, I am co-hosting this week with Nina from Death Books and Tea who is a fan of Japanese young adult literature and manga. As you probably guessed from my lack of drawing skills, she is the talented person behind the creation of the logo, not me! We have chosen different books for this week so don't hesitate to go on both blogs to discover them and maybe become as obsessed as we are! I'll try to link to Nina's reviews as they get posted.

I started becoming interested in Japanese literature not a very long time ago to be honest. I knew about Haruki Murakami and Kazuo Ishiguro (though he isn't translated and writes in English) but never really had a specific motivation to read their books, or to even think about Japanese literature as something I would like to read. I love reading foreign literature and I am fascinated by the entire process of translation so I would have gotten there at some point but it never really attracted me.

Then I went to an event with Melvin Burgess organised by Spinebreakers (read Becky @ The Bookette's fantastic event summary) and he talked about the fact that when he first started writing there was hardly any young adult novels (for 15+) and that many teen novels did not talk about what actually happened to a lot of teenagers (sex, violence, drugs, etc.) or if they did, they would present things in an unrealistic way. In this talk, he mentioned Japanese young adult literature which he loved and how they presented serious subjects and had a very gritty and dark aspect to them. He named Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara (my review here) and the novels Out, Grotesque and Real World by Natsuo Kirino and that was my revelation.

I already thought that there was a real lack in young adult literature for young adult books (as in from 15 to 18 years old and more) and when I read Snakes and Earrings I felt there was something more in the story, the same something I then found in Natsuo Kirino's books. I am not exactly sure how I could describe it, I think it probably is just one aspect of Japanese culture in general or just in these books, and I am quite simply fascinated by them.

Japanese culture is very rich and I bet you could spend years trying to get your head wrapped around it and still learn new things everyday. I just got into Anime (Japanese animated cartoons) and realised that a story could be presented in various media: novel, manga and anime. And this is especially true for young adult novels. A Light Novel is a style of novel in Japan which is quite short and mainly targeted at teenagers/young adult. They can be serialised in magazines/journals and often come with illustrations (hence the strong link with manga and anime since the stories can be easily adapted in other medias). This genre is extremely popular in Japan and most of the young adult popular culture is centred around these stories. [Read this article on the subject: Publishing heavyweights see light in growing 'light novel' market | Asahi Japan Watch | November 2011]

Ever since I got interested in Japanese literature, it just opened new perspectives for me as a reader and as an aspiring writer. I am a fan of good stories but also love anything original and I've definitely found new stories or styles of writing I could obsess about - and I hope I can share them with you!

~~~

Programme for the week:

Monday - Intro post (which is what you are currently reading!)

Check out Nina's Intro post over at Death Books and Tea and her review of L Change The World by M

Tuesday - Review of Real World by Natsuo Kirino

In a suburb on the outskirts of Tokyo, four teenage girls drift through a hot smoggy August and tedious summer school classes. There's dependable Toshi; brainy Terauchi; Yuzan, grief-stricken and confused; and Kirarin, whose late nights and reckless behaviour remain a secret from those around her.

Then Toshi's next-door neighbour is found brutally murdered and the girls suspect Worm, the neighbour's son and a high school misfit. But when he disappears (taking Toshi's bike and cell phone with him) the four girls become irresistibly drawn into a treacherous vortex of brutality and seduction which rises from within themselves as well as the world around them.

Read Nina's review of Chain Mail - Addicted To You by Hiroshi Ishizaki over at Death Books and Tea

Wednesday - Review of Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai

The novella that first propelled Dazai into the literary elite of post-war Japan. Essentially the start of Dazai's career, Schoolgirl gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language. Now it illuminates the prevalent social structures of a lost time, as well as the struggle of the individual against them--a theme that occupied Dazai's life both personally and professionally. This new translation preserves the playful language of the original and offers the reader a new window into the mind of one of the greatest Japanese authors of the 20th century.

A day in the life of a teenage girl, on the verge of becoming a woman. She is dealing with a depressed mom, coping with the recent death of her dad, school and the other problems girls like her deal on a daily base. While her inner turmoil is boiling, she keeps a cool façade when it comes to portraying what she feels. Sometimes hypocritical, sometimes sad but interesting.

Read Nina's review of Audition by Ryu Murakami over at Death Books and Tea

Thursday - Review of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time by Yasutaka Tsutsui

One of Tsutsui's best-known and most popular works in his native Japan, The Girl Who Leapt through Time is the story of fifteen-year-old schoolgirl Kazuko, who accidentally discovers that she can leap back and forth in time. In her quest to uncover the identity of the mysterious figure that she believes to be responsible for her paranormal abilities, she'll constantly have to push the boundaries of space and time, and challenge the notions of dream and reality.

Read Nina's review of Chibi Vampire Novel Volume 1 by Tohry Kai over at Death Books and Tea

Friday - Review of The Friends by Kazumi Yumoto

Kiyama and his friends Kawabe and Yamashita become fascinated and curious about death when Yamashita's grandmother dies. They wonder what a dead body looks like and if the dead person becomes a ghost. They hope to see death firsthand by spying on an old man who looks like he will die soon. But while they watch the old man, he watches them. Soon their fascination for each other turns into a friendship that will change their lives forever.

Read Nina's review of Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi over at death Books and Tea

Saturday - Read Nina's review of Kamikaze Girls by Novela Takemoto

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Interesting Links:

Whenever I feel like reading anything Japanese, I go browse the blog Contemporary Japanese Literature managed by Kathryn Hemman who is a graduate student in the East Asian Language and Civilizations department at the University of Pennsylvania. She writes very thoughtful reviews on a variety of genres. Her blog is a must-read if you are interested in Japanese literature.

The author Cynthia Leitich Smith has a fantastic part of her website dedicated to "diverse reads" and in particular to books with an Asian Heritage. You can read what she writes about children's and young adult books with Japanese heritage or Japanese themes (here) but do browse the other tabs on her website as it is a truly fantastic resource.

As for most things, Wikipedia is a fantastic tool to gather information and resources. You can visit the article about Light Novels, Manga and the page with a List of Light Novels to browse those you might like. You can browse the Japanese Literature category to find articles on themes you are more interested in.

For instance, I read a lot of LGBT / Gender and sexuality books and I found that it constitutes an actual genre in Japanese literature. The jargon used for those books is Yuri for any content in manga, anime or books involving love between women, and Bara for any content involving love between men.

UPDATE: I completely forgot to add the page for the Japanese Literature Challenge which has been hosted by Dolce Belezza for the past 4 years. You can participate in the challenge or read the review posted by other bloggers. There also is a suggested reading list if you don't know where to start!

There are probably many other websites on the subject, and I am happy to add any good links here, but those are the websites I mainly use as sources of information.

~~~

That is all for today, stay tuned all week on this blog and on Death Books and Tea to read the reviews we will be posting and we hope we'll get some of you interested in reading Japanese Young Adult novels!

Have a lovely week,

Caroline x

World Aids Day 2011 - YA Book Bloggers raise awareness

2011-11-30T14:01:00.000Z

Hi people,

Tomorrow is World Aids Day! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to organise a week like last year to raise awareness but you can go and revisit all the articles and reviews my fellow bloggers and I posted about HIV/Aids in young adult literature during the week (here)! We read books published in the 1970's and some more contemporary. Not only was reading a novel fascinating in itself, but seeing all those reviews also enabled us to see an evolution in how we perceive Aids.

There are now more people than ever living with HIV in the UK, according to the World Aids Day website, and increasing awareness on the issue is essential, especially to teenagers and young adults.

Here is the link to a non exhaustive bibliography of young adult novels talking about Aids/HIV which I compiled last year (do email me about books I forgot!). Reading a novel about HIV is a first step towards being aware of what the virus is but also how it feels like to live with it. People suffering from HIV often feel alienated because of misconceptions about how HIV gets transmitted.

If you have any interogations about HIV/AIDS, go over the World Aids Day website which gathers fantastic resources and links on the subject.

Have a lovely day :)

Caroline x

PS: I am currently reading Crossfire by Miyabe Miyuki for my Japanese teen novels week which will start next week.

Christopher Paolini Giveaway winners!

2011-11-28T13:49:00.000Z

Hi everyone,

The two winners* of my Christopher Paolini giveaway are:

Ann Wright

Vivienne DaCosta

Congratulations - you will both receive a set of signed Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr!!

If you would like to watch the interview Christopher Paolini made for the blog - head over here!

And if you still haven't read any of Christopher Paolini's books - you should! I have re-read the three first books of the cycle and have finished Inheritance last week and I can't wait to re-read it again! This series is one of my favourite and I really love how the cycle concluded (more on that in my review)!

Which fabulous books did you guys read this weekend?

I couldn't resist re-reading The Hunger Games (er... the trilogy that is! I know I'm bad!) and I am starting Rubyfruit Jungle [I seem to be in a feisty heroine kick at the moment!]

Enjoy your week!

Caroline x

*Winners chosen by Random.org

Rest In Pern Anne McCaffrey

2011-11-23T00:38:00.002Z

Anne McCaffrey 1926-2011

I have come back home to the saddest news. The wonderful Anne McCaffrey, author of some of the most imaginative pieces of speculative fiction written to this day, has passed away. Not only was Anne McCaffrey one of the most gifted fantasy and science fiction story-teller but she was also a true pioneer for women writer in the genre (she was the first woman to win a Hugo and a Nebula award) and an advocate for strong women characters.

Every single one of Anne McCaffrey books is set in an original and frighteningly convincing universe, filled with powerful ideas and dreamy characters. She created some of the most beloved species (I am still desperate to find a fire lizard) but has also brought us the most interesting human and not-so-human characters who taught us to be ourselves and to show compassion to others. There truly isn't any writer just like her and I will carry her unforgettable stories with me.

Thank you Anne for all the fascinating and inspiring books you brought us and I hope you are finding yourself surrounded with 'Dinis and fire lizards where you are now. You will be deeply missed.

Anne McCaffrey wrote those following words about the loss of Petiron and the lyrics couldn't be more fitting today:

“The tears I feel today I'll wait to shed tomorrow. Though I'll not sleep this night Nor find surcease from sorrow. My eyes must keep their sight: I dare not be tear-blinded. I must be free to talk Not choked with grief, clear-minded. My mouth cannot betray The anguish that I know. Yes, I'll keep my tears til later: But my grief will never go.”

Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsinger (Song for Petiron)

Me after discovering the Pern novels

Joanne Harris Interview!

2011-11-03T17:19:00.000Z

Hello book lovers!

Today I am deeply honored to welcome the one and only Joanne Harris on Portrait of a Woman to talk about her fascinating fantasy series of which the second book, Runelight, is out today!

Very different from her more contemporary novels, Runemarks and Runelight tell the tale of feuding gods, long forgotten prophecies and feature some feisty heroines.

~~~

Hi Joanne,

I have literally devoured Runemarks and Runelight in just a few days and have fallen for your fantastic characters (Loki!) and fascinating story! Thank you so much for answering a few questions about them!

Portrait of a Woman: I read on your website that you've always had a fascination for Norse Myths, but what attracted you to them at first?
Joanne Harris: I've liked them ever since I was seven years old, and read a library book called THUNDER OF THE GODS.

PoaW: If Runemarks was set in a very organised and regulated world, Runelight, which takes place three years after the first book, starts off in a chaotic, violent and grim setting - what can the reader expect from this new story and which challenges will await Maddy and the other characters?

JH: If RUNEMARKS was about self-discovery and the power of stories, RUNELIGHT is about finding out how we fit into the world, the power of friendship and community. Maddy has grown into young adulthood, and must now face the responsibilities of her new role among the old gods of Asgard.

PoaW: In Runelight, we meet Maggie Rede, how different a heroine is she from Maddy?

JH: The girls are in some ways very alike; independent, imaginative, strong. But Maggie has been brought up in the Universal City, among the Order, and her beliefs and attitudes have been shaped by her upbringing. In some ways Maggie can be very naive, and her fear of magic and of her own powers puts her into danger, both physical and emotional.

PoaW: How did you approach the writing process in Runemarks? Did you have to make a lot of research on Norse myths or learn runes?
JH: I didn't really do any specific research. My knowledge of Norse culture is the product of many years of interest and study; I've been learning Old Icelandic for 5 years, have a reasonably knowledge of runic systems and have brought a lot of what I've learnt into the books.

PoaW: Also, how different was writing Runemarks and Runelight from your other books? Do you plan on writing more fantasy books (not necessarily in the same world)?
JH: It's the first time I feel I've had the freedom to write out-and-out fantasy; imaginary worlds, alternate realities, other races; magic as a part of life. It's liberating to be able to do that, and on such a large scale; although I think that thematically my fantasy books and my mainstream books still have quite a lot of themes in common. Alienation; the outsider; tolerance; the power of words. There will almost certainly be at least one more book in the RUNE series - I'm having such fun writing these books that as long as people want to read them, I'm more than happy to keep writing them.

PoaW: Are there some aspects of Norse myths that you changed to suit the story or did you try to stay as close as possible to the myths?
JH: I have stayed fairly true to the original myths, but these stories are new, set in a post-Ragnarok world to reflect the changing roles of the gods in a society that has mostly forgotten their legends.

PoaW: Your interpretation of Loki is one of the best I have ever read and he is such a fascinating character in your books - which aspect of his famous personality did you want to put forward in the story?

JH: Loki is is such an ambivalent character - by far my favourite among the Norse gods - that I wanted to portray his complexity rather than (as most interpretations do) simply set him up as a villain. He's a very modern antihero in some ways; an outsider; rejected both by his own people and the community he inhabits and permanently conflicted about his role in the world. He's also a natural comedian - using his profound insight into human (and god) nature to find the best ways to ridicule and to upset his fellow-gods. And unlike the others, he is not a fighter; his weapons are not swords, but words. That's a theme that runs very strongly through both books; the power of words.

PoaW: The book has some very serious themes woven in the fantasy story - why did you want to illustrate the fact that "Not kings but historians rule the world"?

JH: We're back to the power of words again. I wanted to write about the nature of history and that of story, and how we, as a culture, are defined by what we choose to celebrate and the stories we pass onto the next generation.

PoaW: Last but not least, if you could invite one of the characters of Runemarks and Runelight, which one would it be and what would you cook?

JH: I'd invite Thor, who wouldn't care what I cooked (as long as there was a lot of it), but who I sense would be a fun drinking companion...

***

Stay tuned for reviews of Runemarks and Runelight on the blog if you haven't already been convinced to read them!

Where you can find Joanne Harris:
Website: http://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/
Follow me on Twitter: @Joannechocolat

Thanks a million to Joanne and RHCB!

Christopher Paolini Blog Interview + GIVEAWAY!!!

2011-11-01T18:12:00.000Z

Hi everyone,

I have read Eragon for the first time when I was 15 and I have been a massive fan of Christopher Paolini ever since!

Earlier this year I've been so *excited* (read: hysterical) about the upcoming release of Inheritance - the final book in the series that I have been consistently pestering every single person I know with it. I went to the event at Forbidden Planet (article and pics to come soon!) where I got my books signed and could meet Christopher!

I also have had the absolutely amazing opportunity to ask Christopher Paolini a few questions prior to the release of Inheritance (8th November people - only a week left!!!) and here is the video of the interview!!

Find out what to expect from Inheritance, if Christopher will continue writing , what he does when he has writer's block, which character from the Inheritance Cycle he would like to be, how different was writing Inheritance from the other books and his tips for aspiring writers!

Also, because I am a huge fan of his and I can't NOT share the amazingness that is Eragon's story, I have some signed books to giveaway!!

GIVEAWAY:

I have two sets of signed Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr with coloured edges to giveaway for 2 lucky UK and Ireland fans of Christopher Paolini!!!

A massive thank you to Christopher and the entire RHCB team for this interview!

To participate:

Send me an email (here) with "INHERITANCE COMPETITION" in the subject.

If you spread the Inheritance Cycle love by blog, tweet, tumblr, facebook, etc. talking about Christopher or the release of Inheritance, do add the link to your email as you will get more chances to win!
(The email counts as 1 point, a tweet counts as +1, tumblr post as +1, etc.)

Add your name and address so that I can send the books to you as soon as I can!

Competition ends 13th November 2011.

Here are some links if you want to stay on top of all the Christopher Paolini news:

Like Christopher Paolini on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/theinheritancecycle

Go check out the fantastic facebook page for fantasy books Other Realms:
https://www.facebook.com/OtherRealms

In The Sea There Are Crocodiles - Fabio Geda

2011-10-24T07:57:00.004+01:00

Hi everyone!

My translated fiction reading has been a bit slow this summer but it is coming back in force with this review of the Italian best-seller In The Sea there Are Crocodiles and my future Japanese YA novels week (21-27 November!) which will be co-hosted by the lovely Nina and Katy at Death Books and Tea!

Summary from Amazon:

One night before putting him to bed, Enaiatollah’s mother tells him three things: don’t use drugs, don’t use weapons, don’t steal. The next day he wakes up to find she isn’t there. Ten-year-old Enaiatollah is left alone in Pakistan to fend for himself.

In a book that takes a true story and shapes it into a beautiful piece of fiction, Italian novelist Fabio Geda describes Enaiatollah’s remarkable five-year journey from Afghanistan to Italy where he finally managed to claim political asylum aged fifteen. His ordeal took him through Iran, Turkey and Greece, working on building sites in order to pay people-traffickers, and enduring the physical misery of dangerous border crossings squeezed into the false bottoms of lorries or trekking across inhospitable mountains. A series of almost implausible strokes of fortune enabled him to get to Turin, find help from an Italian family and meet Fabio Geda, with whom he became friends.

The result of their friendship is this unique book in which Enaiatollah’s engaging, moving voice is brilliantly captured by Geda’s subtly simple storytelling. In Geda’s hands, Enaiatollah’s journey becomes a universal story of stoicism in the face of fear, and the search for a place where life is liveable.

~~~

You are not going to be surprised if I say that I adored this book, right?

I know, I know what you're going to say, I *always* love the translated books I review in my Lost in Translation feature, and I keep telling you how much you *need* to read them, so much that I'm turning into the boy who cried wolf and you don't believe me anymore.

But guess what? This one, you really do need to read it! No really!

This story is a real eye opener. Not only do you see life through the eyes of someone from a foreign culture and country, but you also see how things are like in countries who do not have the chance to be democraties and you see the theme of immigration through the point of view of the immigrant. Enaiatollah is sent out of Afghanistan by his mother who wishes him to survive and not be a casualty of the Talibans which had taken over the country. His travels bring him to Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece and Italy. He is just a child yet he manages to get through countries and survive very hard conditions.

What is fascinating to see are the similarities between our culture (Western European that is) and Enaiatollah's, and I think that is why it is important to read this book. Enaiatollah is a regular little boy, he lives with his family, he plays ball with the other children in the village and he really likes to go to school (though he'd rather play outside!). People in his village are not Talibans and are on the contrary bullied by them. From his very early years, Enaiatollah witnesses his teacher getting killed.

There are some real heart-breaking moments in the book and Enaiatollah meets many people, some of which happen to help him, others who will hurt him. Any random act of kindness is remembered and cherished by Enaiatollah but he doesn't blame the ones who hurt him. I found him to be full of love, for the people around him that he comes across, but also for the countries and the different cultures he encounters. Enaiatollah proves to have a real hunger to learn and to live.

The book is a conversation between the writer, Fabio Geda, and Enaiatollah Akbari who is now an adult and sometimes, Fabio or Enaiatollah come out of the story to clarify one point or discuss bigger themes and I found it to be really interesting because everything is put in perspective and the book becomes more than just a story.

What I loved about this book is that Enaiatollah, no matter how horrible and dangerous the things he goes through are, doesn't lose faith. He doesn't even think he is to be pitied. I mean he is just a kid when he leaves his country and moves into territories which have some of the harshest life conditions on this planet and yet he doesn't give up. This is an incredibly uplifting story, it makes me believe that anything in life is possible and anything can be achieved by pretty much anyone.

This book is quite simply breathtaking and is a wonderful way to get to see the world through the eyes of an Afghan child in his journey to find a new place to call home.

Info: It is fine for both boys and girls. There are some violent bits in it so younger children might find this a bit hard to read if not reading with an adult who can explain some things (which would be a great way to approach the book).

Thanks to RHCB for the proof copy!

In The Sea There Are Crocodiles, by Fabio Geda | 2011 | RHCB | Proof copy from publisher

The Rowan - Anne McCaffrey

2011-09-28T14:05:00.001+01:00

I am reviewing The Rowan as part of the Anne McCaffrey Reading Challenge 2011 which I am hosting here.

If you would like more information on the Challenge, check out my post here.

~~~

Summary from Amazon:
The Talents were the elite of the Nine Star League. Their gifts were many and varied, ranging from the gently telepathic, to the rare and extremely valued Primes. On the Primes rested the entire economic wealth and communications systems of the civilised worlds. But Primes were scarce — only very rarely was a new one born. And now, on the planet Altair, in a small mining colony on the western mountain range, a new Prime existed, a three-year-old girl — trapped in a giant mud slide that had wiped out the rest of the Rowan mining community. Every Altarian who was even mildly talented could ‘hear’ the child crying for help, but no one knew where she was buried. Every resource on the planet was centred into finding ‘The Rowan’ — the new Prime, the first ever to be born on Altair, an exceptionally unique Prime, more talented, more powerful, more agoraphobic, more lonely, than any other Prime yet known in the Nine Star league.

~~~

I have to admit that when I first read the blurb I thought it would be a very complicated sci fi story and that I wouldn't love it as much as Anne McCaffrey's dragon books. Well... I was WRONG! This is one of the best book (and series) I have read in a long time. It ranks close to Harry Potter, if not higher. And I stand by what I just said.

Anne McCaffrey wrote two series in the Talents universe which involves Earth functioning thanks to the Talents of telepathic or telekinetic persons in an interstellar society. Those Talents are used to communicate and teleport spaceships through space. The Rowan is the first novel of the Tower and Hive series which counts five books in chronological order, each narrated by a different person. The novels can work as standalones but you might want to read them in the order! I have finished reading the third one and I am hooked!

This series is original, inventive, thoroughly fascinating and wonderfully written. I started reading it and thought how much it made sense that humans would have found a way to colonise other planets and that - of course - Talents exist and would take a bigger role in our society in the future. At school and University you look at history through a different timeline and try to isolate trends and maybe signs in previous generations of what would ultimately happen, and I find the Tower and Hive series to be something like a possible future for us when you think about it. (I am not making any sense, am I? Sorry!)

Aside from the fact that the plot is cleverly construed and presented in a very clear way, the story in itself is fabulous! So you enjoy a great story and at the same time it makes you think about several themes = win win :)

The Rowan is the name of the main character, a little girl on the planet Altair who loses her family in a terrible accident. Her entire village is destroyed but somehow, the child survives and is in such a panic that she broadcasts her screams both physically and mentally to a degree that everyone on the planet can hear her. She is seen as one of the most promising Talents in the Universe and is trained by Siglen, the Prime of Altair. The Rowan is also raised by Lusena who will be a mother figure for her even though The Rowan feels very much alone and not well accepted by her peers.
The book tells the story of The Rowan from infancy to her adult years so I can't delve too much into the plot without spoiling some of the story but let me tell you that there are EXCITING moments as well as some truly ROMANTIC moments (which, I have to admit, were so adorable that a lot of swoon ensued).
The Rowan is a fantastic character and it is really interesting to see her mature through the book. She is very strong but has her soft spots. I also *adore* Afra and Jeff Raven is fabulous (you'll see what I mean when you read it!).

One aspect of this book I loved was how technical the whole space transport system is. I mean, it isn't fascinating in itself but the story is so well plotted that all the technical bits and pieces are taken into account and I love how even the station assistants have an important role in the system. It also shows how dependent each planet/system is with others and how things work more smoothly with cooperation. The book really brings forward the humanity of some characters and ideas like equality and solidarity which can be applied to international relations today.

Each new Anne McCaffrey book I pick up looks weird and something I might not like at first but it takes me a few pages to immerse myself in a new adventure that is thrilling to read and fascinating to think about. The descriptions are so vivid that I can't help thinking Anne McCaffrey has the talent to see the future and she is merely reporting what will exist! I am also amazed at how contemporary some of the themes and issues presented in the book are. The stories are very visionary and I can't wait to get my hands on all the others! As per usual, I can't recommend reading Anne McCaffrey enough!

Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan

2011-09-20T08:11:00.000+01:00

Summary from Amazon:

Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. I never asked to be the son of a Greek God. I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher. That's when things started really going wrong. Now I spend my time fighting with swords, battling monsters with my friends, and generally trying to stay alive.

This is the one where Zeus, God of the Sky, thinks I've stolen his lightning bolt - and making Zeus angry is a very bad idea.

Can Percy find the lightning bolt before a fully-fledged war of the Gods erupts?

~~~

I knew about this series mostly because Becky @ The Bookette kept raving about it and you know how I am with series, I need to have all of them close to me so that I can read them back to back, so I didn't want to get started without having a solid weekend in front of me. Then Friday happened. I wanted a book to read and didn't know what to choose. I have a good 200 books unread on my shelves, all of different genres, length and even language, but out of all of these, I picked up The Lightning Thief and I couldn't stop reading until I picked up and finished The Sea Of Monsters. Now I was all desolate because I only had those two home but then a shiny idea appeared to me: "Kindle!!". So I've just bought the rest of the series and pre-ordered The Son Of Neptune :) (thankfully, my Mom and my banker don't go on the blog often so I'm safe saying this here)

This series is quite simply brilliant. Like *really* brilliant. There is some fast-paced action, some awesome characters and one spunky hero! The book is also very clever and intertwines Greek myths. Now, I'm a nerd as much as the next person, but I don't appreciate the condescending tone of some books with historical or mythical background as if you're a kid and the writer is teaching you. This book is not like this at all, it ROCKS!! You learn a lot without losing interest in the story or without the action losing pace.

Percy is a sweet character and kudos to Rick Riordan for making dyslexia and ADHD not look like a handicap or something laughable. The problem with literature is that it often forgets to add realism to its character (you know, they are all healthy and bright and handsome etc.) when in reality, more often than not, everyone has their own little quirks. And not only Percy, but various characters in the book are presented, as humans, in a way and as their "birth-form" in another. It is definitely an uplifting book on that front and there is so much kindness emanating from the characters (well, not Hades of course) that you can't help feeling full of love when reading.

I love the Percy-Poseidon relation and I can't wait to read more about their powers. As a Mediterranean, the sea fascinates me and this book truly shows the latent (and sometimes not so latent) power of the sea. Poseidon is a fantastic character and definitely my favourite of the Big Three :)

I *adore* Annabeth. She is a kick-ass heroine and shines with the characteristics of her mother Athena. That's one thing I love in this book: female characters hold their own so it is truly fantastic for both boys and girls to read. I really love all the other characters so I won't be making a list here, but they all have depth in them and, when you think about it, the characterisation is fantastic when considering all the mythology that the author has put in this. All the characters make sense with their mythical persona and in the modern story. It is mind-boggling how spot on some of them are!

The book is told in Percy's point of view and I really love that kid. His voice is perfect and really brings you in the best adventures ever. I won't tell you the story but the journey from Percy-mere-clumsy-human at the beginning to son of Poseidon is wonderful. There are some really good themes in the book which are fantastic for kids to read: there is courage, friendship, loyalty and trust, but there is also the idea that no matter how small and insignificant you are, and no matter the fact that you might probably fail, the journey is always worth taking.

So you might not have noticed from this review (hee hee), but I just became a *HUGE FAN* of this series. Definitely a book for the brain, for the heart and a little bit for the soul as well, you'll see. Everything is fantastic and I can't wait to read more.

A zillion thank you to the fabulous Becky for being awesome :)

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan | 2005 | Puffin | Bought from WH Smith.

Outside In - Maria V. Snyder

2011-09-16T14:11:00.000+01:00

Summary from Amazon:

Me? A Leader? Okay, I did prove that there's more to Inside than we knew. That a whole world exists beyond this cube we live in. And finding that led to a major rebellion between worker scrubs like me and the snobby uppers who rule our world. Make that ruled. Because of me, we're free. I thought that meant I was off the hook, and could go off on my own again while still touching base with Riley, of course. He's the one upper I think I can trust. But then we learned that there is outside and then there is Outside. And something from Outside wants In.

~~~

Outside In is the sequel to the thrilling Inside Out (my review here), for which I have interviewed the author Maria V. Snyder (link here). This review will have spoilers for the first book, so go and read it before reading this review!

The Queen Of The Pipes is back!!!!

(I *love* Trella!!)

This is a fantastic series and the sequel is as nerve-racking as the first! When I learned what the deal was with Inside/Outside, I had this strange sensation of falling into space. I have bad vertigo so the whole idea of being *gasp* in space *gasp* - no matter how fabulous it would be - just made me hold onto walls all day. Here, not only is everyone stuck inside, but they are helpless when something on the Outside wants to go in.

We find Trella who spends most of her time as a consultant to the new Committee in charge of making life better Inside. But old habits die hard and "Uppers" do not wish to do manual jobs with scrubs. A lot of discontent appears among the various levels and several acts of rebellion are casting a shadow on the joy of unity at last.

Trella is also starting to have issues with Riley. He doesn't like how she never spends time with him and how she is always putting herself in harm's way. There is also the question of Dr Lamont who betrayed her and how they have to live together and how she might be her mother. So Trella's life isn't that fantastic after the rebellion, but it's nothing compared to what it will be when Outside tries to come Inside and people start to die.

I really love Trella as a character, she has her own mind and can't really shake an entire life of feeling alone and rejected. She has also her flaws which make her even more endearing! We get to have a better look at the other characters' personality, especially after there is no more distinction between Uppers and scrubs.

I find that the book is a brilliant exemple of human nature and how "easy" it is to manipulate people in being divided just by giving them the impression that the Other is different. The system implemented by the Travas in Inside Out was a clear example of "Divide to Conquer" whereas on the other side, Outside In shows how a lack of leadership isn't always a good thing because if everyone has a voice, some will always scream louder than others.

Trella makes some even more fascinating discoveries by visiting the "ship" and I am dying to know more about it (because there will be more about it, right? RIGHT?!!) and how it started and - obviously - how it will end!!! She is a fantastic character and definitely a kick ass heroine. I loved the development of her relationship with Riley and how she is maturing. I am also a huge fan of the Tech Nos like Logan! There are various personalities in the book and they reflect well the situation in which they are living in.

The book is really well written and you stay at the edge of your seat the whole time. I've read it in barely two days because I needed to know what was happening next! There are some violent passages and some sexy times but nothing too bad.

This is one of those stories where the less you say the better since the surprise will make it even more fascinating so I highly recommend this series to people who enjoy dystopia, sci-fi, thrillers and anything going on in space. The story will resonate in you in a "what if?" kind of way and you will want to continue reading for the story, if not just for the survival tips. (Yes, I see dystopia as just an anticipation of what might come in the future and as the best way to be prepared for anything.)

Note to self: Learn how to climb a rope, throw a punch and navigate in pipes.

Many thanks to Mira Ink for sending me the book!

Outside In by Maria V Snyder | 2011 | Mira Ink | Sent to me by the publisher!

The Dragon Whisperer - Lucinda Hare

2011-09-06T14:10:00.001+01:00

Summary from Amazon:

Imagine you could talk to dragons...

Quenelda has always had a magical bond with dragons, and her greatest wish is to fly one and fight alongside her father in the war against the hobgoblins.

Root, on the other hand, wishes only to avoid the fearsome creatures, so the role of Quenelda’s esquire is the last thing he needs.

But an unexpected friendship is forged, and when Dragons Dome is besieged by a deadly plot, this unlikely duo must find a way to defeat the dark forces.

Epic battles, whispered legends and soaring magic combine in this breathtaking debut fantasy, with black and white illustrations by David Wyatt.

~~~

I'm not sure whether I'll be able to convey with words what I felt reading The Dragon Whisperer and Flight To Dragon Isle. The books were so irresistibly wonderful that I've read them back to back one after the other in a couple of days. I felt like I was ten again and that the universe was just a big adventure waiting to be discovered. This series is an absolutely fantastic story and it brilliantly fills the void left by the end of Harry Potter.

Quenelda is the daughter of the Earl Rufus DeWinter, Commander of the Stealth Dragon Service (SDS), the force composed of humans and dragons fighting in a place where hobglobins threatened the very existence of both species. Quenelda's mother is unknown and her step-brother is arrogant and proud. Unlike other ladies of the Court, Quenelda doesn't care much about etiquette or pretty dresses, she only has eyes for dragons. Quenelda meets Root, a young gnome, who is afraid of dragons but is brave, courageous and a fabulous compagnion who will stay by Quenelda's side. Theirs is a story of true friendship. They are different but are brought together by circumstances and a strong will. When a horrendous plan is put together to overthrow Quenelda's father and hurt the peace created by the SDS, Quenelda doesn't hesitate to act even though she is a girl and still a child.

I absolutely adored the dragons, their names (Two Gulps And You're Gone is the funniest dragon name!) and the way they interacted with Quenelda in particular. Lucinda Hare has created a fantastic world revolving around those fabulous creatures and you can see the passion she has for animals bursting through every page. I really wish this place existed so that I could live there!

It is a beautiful story but there is so much more to it. The story is about being different, about courage, loss, compassion and so many things which makes this series deep without trying to be serious (hence my comparison with Harry Potter). Quenelda and Root, being a girl and a gnome, fight all preconceived notions and prejudice from the entire society to get to what they want.
Quenelda has some spunk and will not let society and tradition dictate her life. Root is a sweetheart and gains confidence in himself by staying with Quenelda. With Quenelda's knowledge, we learn together with Root how to differentiate, love and take care of dragons. You cannot but love the sudden fascination he has for a dragon, Dancing With The Stars!
There is also a mystery surrounding Quenelda's mother and her strange talent with dragons and we keep wanting to know more!

This book is compelling, unputdownable and utterly irresistible. Children of all ages will love the personalities of the characters and the dragons. There are also adorable illustrations in the book so it is a great book for younger readers (and older readers) (much older). It is also a great book for either boys or girls.
They will relate to the characters' story and be shown that you might be small and laughed at by everyone but you still can save the day by pursuing what you feel is right. It is really a fantastic adventure with a lot of action and laughs!

And if you want to discover the first 45 pages of the book, click on the widget below:

And if you want to read Lucinda Hare talking about dragons, head over to her guest post here.

The Dragon Whisperer by Lucinda Hare | 2009 | Random House Children's Books | Sent to me by the publisher!

Summer Giveaway: Advance Reader Copies [UK Bloggers only]

2011-08-14T22:36:00.006+01:00

Hi everyone,

As I will soon be moving from my flat and I can't face taking all my books from one place to the other, I thought I would organise a giveaway.

When I started to organise my shelves I realised that I had several versions of the same book (ARC, finished copy, signed copy...) so I thought that for a first wave of giveaway, I would give to other bloggers the chance to read and review some books, that is why this giveaway is for UK BLOGGERS ONLY. Obviously, it would be fab for you to review it on your blog (pretty please)!

The books will be given away on a first come first served basis and I will try to update this page as soon as someone claims an ARC (though I have been known to sleep at night and work during the day).

Book proofs to be given away:

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens (my review here)

Boys For Beginners by Lil Chase (Goodreads page)

Heart Of Tango by Elia Barcelo (Goodreads pages)

Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough (my review here)

The Clan Of The Cave Bear (Earth's Children #1) by Jean M. Auel (Goodreads page)

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton (Goodreads page)

A Tangle of Magicks by Stephanie Burgis (~~my review here~~)

The Kissing Game by Aidan Chambers (Goodreads page)

Rules:

You need to be a book blogger (and have been reviewing books for at least one month)

You need to have a UK address

No, you cannot send me an email asking for all of the books.

Send me an email (here) by stating:

- Your name

- Your blog name and a link to it

- Your postal address so that I cans end you the book directly!

Enjoy the summer holidays (if you're lucky enough to have any!!)

Love,

Caroline x

A Tangle Of Magicks - Stephanie Burgis

2011-08-10T14:30:00.000+01:00

Summary from Amazon:

After her antics in A Most Improper Magick, Kat Stephenson is back to cause more chaos! Stepmama drags the family to Bath to find Kat's sister a new suitor. But, unknown to most of its gossipy visitors, Bath is full of wild magic. When Kat uncovers a plot to harness this magic in the Roman Baths, she finds her brother Charles is unwittingly involved. Kat must risk her newfound magical powers as she defies the Order of the Guardians to foil the plot and clear her brother's name.

~~~

A Tangle of Magicks is the second book in the Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson. I might say a few spoilers about the first book in this so be warned! You can read my review of the first book in the series, A Most Improper Magick *here* as well as my interview with Stephanie Burgis as part of A Tangle Of Magicks blog tour *here*.

After the events taking place in the first book, Kat's family has entirely changed. Well, not exactly, her father still doesn't say much, her brother still sleeps all the time and her step-mother is as ruthless as ever. But Kat is now a Guardian, after inheriting her mother's power, Angeline is a witch and getting better at it and Elissa is getting married to the love of her life Mr Collingwood! The wedding is ready and all the guests are here when something gasp-worthy happens! Even if the marriage continues, Kat's family (minus Elissa who goes to live with Mr Collingwood) flees to Bath to one of Kat's step-mother "acquaintances". In Bath, Kat obviously can't prevent herself to stay out of trouble!

I absolutely adored A Most Improper Magick and loved this book even more! I think this is one of the most original, interesting and entertaining series out there. Kat is quite simply unique - her voice in the book is so clear that it is an absolute pleasure to read and the most extraordinary things happen to her so you're definitely in for a ride!

Angeline is full of dark thoughts and acts very recklessly in the book and I found it really touching how Kat doesn't let her do this even if Angeline is older and should know better. We get to see more of Kat's brother Charles (and a glimpse of his past) and I am starting to like him more and more. Kat's father also shows a bit more of himself and I will repeat what I said about the first book about how much I love how family-oriented this series is. Kat would do anything for her family and has even been known to help her step-mother *gasp*!

We get to see a few more characters in this and particularly Lucy. She is roughly Kat's age and is very nice (compared to her obnoxious mother and sister). Lucy is obsessed with witchcraft (she thinks it's the ultimate cool) and is ready to get in all sorts of trouble with Kat. their interactions made me laugh out loud several times!

This book is a bit more darker than the first one. When A Most Improper Magick looked at the widespread phenomenon of highwaymen in Regency England, the plot of A Tangle Of Magicks goes into 19th century Bath and explores the theme of old magic. I always have that feeling, when entering a very old place, that there are millenia of history present between those walls, and Stephanie Burgis brilliantly captured that feeling about the Roman baths in Bath. Through Kat's eyes, there is an old powerful magic lurking in the corners of the baths, and she feels that it might not be a magic for the best of the people. The book also shows how scary those times were for young girls and how they were preyed upon by rich men. The setting is fantastic in this book and I can't wait to read the next book in the series to see where Kat will take us!

I really loved this book and this is a fabulous series for people who like their historical fiction with a funny twist. I really cannot recommend these books enough so run like the wind and go buy them in your local bookshop!

Thanks to Templar for sending me the book and for giving me the opportunity to interview Stephanie!

A Tangle Of Magicks by Stephanie Burgis | Templar | 2011 | ARC from the publisher.

A Tangle Of Magicks blog Tour - Interview with Stephanie Burgis

2011-08-08T07:15:00.011+01:00

I am thrilled to receive today Stephanie Burgis, author of A Most Improper Magick (my crazy fan-girl review here), to talk about the release of the second book in the Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, A Tangle Of Magicks. I have finished reading the book and I loved it so much! I'll post my review during the week so you can see how in love I am with the story :)

~~~

Hi Stephanie,

I am absolutely thrilled to welcome you to Portrait of a Woman for the release of A Tangle Of Magicks! I was very excited to read A Most Improper Magick back in 2010 because I literally couldn't take my eyes off the cover! The book is just as original as the cover and Kat’s story is very adventurous, funny and magical. It really ticked all my boxes so I was even more excited to read A Tangle Of Magicks and see where Kat would take us next!

Portrait of a Woman: Both books mix magical elements with a Regency setting and an incorrigible main character, but how did Kat’s story come to you in the first place?

Stephanie Burgis: I was actually in the middle of writing a different book - a dark, angst-ridden adult novel. Then one day, as I was chopping onions in my kitchen, I suddenly heard a girl’s voice in my ear (it really was as unexpected and vivid as that), saying: “I was twelve years of age when I chopped off my hair, dressed in boys’ clothes, and set off to save my family from ruin…”

That was it! I was hooked. I abandoned the onions, ran to grab a notebook and began to write. Kat had swaggered right into my life, and I was caught up in her story from that moment onward.

PoaW: I have to admit that that first line got me hooked to the story as well! If A Most Improper Magick looks at the widespread phenomenon of highwaymen during Regency England, A Tangle Of Magicks takes us to the streets of Bath and the myths behind its famous roman baths. Why did you choose to write about this city? Did you have to do a lot of visiting and research to be able to recreate what it was like during Kat’s time?

SB: I fell in love with the city of Bath years and years ago, well before I ever started writing about Kat - and the Roman Baths, in particular, just overwhelmed me. They are so amazing, and they feel genuinely magical to walk around even now! So when it came time to write Kat’s second adventure, I knew immediately that I wanted to send her and her family to Bath…not least because it gave me the perfect excuse to go back myself, again and again!

Luckily, Jane Austen actually lived in Bath around the period that Kat visited, so there’s been a lot of historical work done on Bath in that time period by Austen scholars, and I found all of those books and articles really helpful. I also read several tourist guidebooks to Bath that were written right around 1800. Finding those felt like striking gold!

PoaW: After reading A Tangle Of Magicks, I have been dying to go to Bath and see those roman baths for myself! I went on your (gorgeous!) website and realized that you have a very varied background in terms of studies, countries visited and work. What does this variety bring to your writing and to the themes in your books?

SB: Well, my background in academia really helped because I spent years researching late eighteenth-century Europe in connection to my degrees, as well as also reading letters and diaries of 18^th and 19^thcentury British women just for fun. And if I hadn’t spent a few years living in Vienna, Austria (which I loved!), I might have felt far more nervous about moving permanently from America to the UK to be with my now-husband…which directly led to writing about Kat! My first book, A Most Improper Magick, was set in exactly the area of Yorkshire where we lived as I wrote the book, and A Tangle of Magicks was inspired by our daytrip to Bath. I couldn’t have written any of these books if I hadn’t moved to the UK!

(And thanks for the kind words about my website! I’m lucky enough to be married to a fabulous web designer - Patrick Samphire, a.k.a. www.50secondsnorth.com - so I’ll pass the compliment on to him!)

PoaW: My favourite part of the book is the importance of family and I really love Kat’s evolution and how she is growing up. A Tangle Of Magicks features a bit more Kat’s father and her brother Charles and we start to see a bit more of their personalities. Are we going to see and learn a bit more about them in the next book? (why yes, this is a shameless attempt to get more info on book 3 :) )

SB: You absolutely will - especially Charles! I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but Kat 3 is definitely where Charles comes into his own. ;)

PoaW: Amazing! Can't wait to read book 3!! Kat is one of my favourite characters! She is strong, courageous and has the best personality ever! Do you have a top 5 of your favourite heroines in literature and which qualities do they need to have to catch your interest?

SB: Thanks so much! My biggest love as a reader is reserved for smart, feisty heroines who stand up for what they believe in, even if they make mistakes along the way. My top five are:

Amelia Peabody, the heroine of Elizabeth Peters’s Crocodile on the Sandbank and a whole series of funny mysteries set in Victorian-era Egypt. She’s smart, determined, and is never afraid to bash an evil-doer with her parasol!
Elizabeth Bennet, from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. She’s witty, intelligent, and refuses to give in to social pressure when she knows it’s wrong.
Ellie, the heroine of Joan Bauer’s Squashed (one of my favourite YA novels ever). She may be fighting an upward battle, but she’s passionate and loyal, two of my favourite qualities in a heroine - and the novel is hilarious!
Flora Segunda, of Ysabeau Wilce’s Flora Segunda. She’s theatrical, feisty and fabulous.
Jane Eyre, in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. She’s brave, analytical, and refuses to compromise her own integrity and sense of self-worth, even for the sake of romantic love.

PoaW: That's exactly how I love my heroines in books too! Young Adult literature is becoming increasingly important and as it grows, it gets regularly attacked for being too dark, too controversial and at times too influential. As a YA/MG writer, do you think there is too much darkness in YA literature these days and do you think teens need to be specifically shielded from some themes?

SB: I think kids deserve to have a wide variety of reading options. A book that’s too dark for one reader may well be the book that saves another. I personally tend to prefer writing and reading books that are bright and fun, high-spirited adventures - but I would be horrified if anyone took away the darker books from the shelves. Kids come from lots of different backgrounds and have a lot of different needs, and it would be terrible to take away a book that some kids really need just because some other kids aren’t ready for it yet.

PoaW: On the same topic, you recently participated in a panel about the importance of honesty and creativity in engaging young people organized by The Reading Agency, Bounce! and various publishing companies including Templar. What came out of this event?

SB: That event was so much fun! I really enjoyed being part of such a varying group of authors - Anthony McGowan and Colin Mulhern write very gritty contemporary YA fiction (Colin’s book is about 11-year-old cage fighters in a very freaky contemporary underworld) while Isla Whitcroft writes glamorous, fun action adventures for a great teen heroine (and martial artist) who gets to travel around the world and use excellent spy gadgets. It was incredibly stimulating for me as a writer to get to discuss writing with such great writers who all write such different kinds of books.

PoaW: Goodreads links to Colin Mulhern's Clash (here) and Isla Whitcroft's The Cate Carlisle Files: Trapped (here)

PoaW: And last, there is a Kat book 3 in the works which will be published in 2012. Will there be more Kat books (pleeeaaase!) and do you have any other projects coming up?

SB: I honestly don’t know the answer to your first question, because it’s just too early to even guess. Truthfully, I would LOVE to write more Kat books - I have lots of ideas for where her further adventures will take her (whether I ever end up writing them or not). However, in terms of hard publishing reality, I can’t even try to sell any more Kat books until Kat book 2 has come out in America and had time to show sales figures, which won’t be for at least another year…so of course I’m working on other projects in the meantime, because I can’t bear to stop writing while I wait! I’m actually just about to send a couple of potential projects to my US editor, so I’m at the stage of feeling far too nervous to talk about them in public right now…

PoaW: I'll cross all my fingers and toes! Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and writing such wonderful books!

SB: Thank you so much for having me here!

~~~

You can read a short story taking place between Kat book 1 and Kat book 2 on Stephanie's website.

Links:

Stephanie Burgis website : http://www.stephanieburgis.com/

Twitter: @stephanieburgis

Templar fiction facebook page

Flight To Dragon Isle Blog Tour - Why Dragons? by Lucinda Hare

2011-08-07T00:31:00.043+01:00

Hi everyone!

You probably know by now how much I love dragons so I was really excited when I was given the chance to review The Dragonsdome Chronicles! I have read The Dragon Whisperer and Flight To Dragon Isle one after the other in a couple of days and I am dying to read the next book!

I loved Quenelda as a main character and the evolution she goes through, I also love the dragons and all the world in this book. I think it's a fantastic adventure story for tweens but also for anyone who is a fan of fantasy and dragons in particular!

But without further ado, let me leave you with the lovely Lucinda Hare who will be talking about why she chose to write about dragons!

~~~

Why dragons?

Dragons! Mythical, magical, scaled, horned and winged; we love them. They scare us silly, they pose riddles, they sit on mythological piles of gold and nowadays they are our friends, guides and companions. They’re even cuddly and cute and have learning difficulties. Dragons exert an enduring glamour to young readers and adults alike. A tiny bit of our minds rationalise they might have once existed, after all there is hardly a culture on the planet that does not have them embedded in mythology and legend. Dragons are dinosaurs with wings, and we know dinosaurs existed. So with so many dragons around, why did I choose dragons in such a crowded marketplace?

Firstly, because these magical creatures live in the imagination of every child on the planet. All over the world legends and myths of dragons exist. So, no matter where a reader lives, and no matter the animals they have as pets or working animals, or even if they have no pets at all, they can conjure an image of a dragon in their mind. This way no-one is left out of the story.

According to Root, who is Tangnost Bearhugger’s hapless apprentice, dragons, irrespective of breed are a horrifying assortment of teeth, talons, scales and tails. They can eat you raw or toast you – well, only the carnivores, the battledragons, can toast you, but to Root that is beside the point.

Secondly because I thought I could bring an original idea to the table, a new take on an old favourite. Dragons are thinking, talking creatures who have a pact with the peoples of the seven Sea Kingdoms to fight their age-long enemy, the amphibious voracious hobgoblins. And although The Dragonsdome Chronicles are set in a medieval world, the Stealth Dragon Services (the SDS), the elite military fighting force of the Kingdoms are clearly based upon modern armed forces, specifically the Special Air Services. Dragons take the place of Harrier jump jets, Apache Longbow helicopters and F-22 stealth raptors. They have dragon pads instead of helicopter pads, they have helmets with integrated comms and heads-up visor displays. They use modern terminology, strategy and tactics.

Thirdly dragons are not just in the book; they are central characters with wholly individual characters. There are three introduced in The Dragon Whisperer. There is Quenelda’s stocky Sabretooth battledragon, Two Gulps & You’re Gone; Root’s gentle, teasing Chasing The Stars, and the SDS Commander’s huge Imperial Black battledragon, Stormcracker Thundercloud III. Two Gulps is a proud and boastful cave dragon, he has serious attitude and is temperamental. Chasing The Stars is a Windglen Widdershanks, a mild-mannered herbivore who has a wicked sense of humour and turns out to surprise everyone with her bravery, just like Root does. Stormcracker is the last of the noble dragons, with magic of his own that can make him disappear – hence the ‘Stealth Dragon Services’. Just like breeds of cats, dogs and horses, dragons come in all shapes, sizes and colours.

And finally, because all the dragons in The Dragonsdome Chronicles are inspired by our own large family of rescued animals. A lot of Two Gulps’ character is taken from our huge ginger cat, Rufus, who has serious attitude. I’m the only one who handles him, but when we come home late at night, even if it’s cold and wet, Rufus is there at the end of the path waiting for us. He has a huge cuddly lion which he treadles, so deep inside he’s just a big softie!

The enduring attraction of dragons is that they can fly and that we can fly on them. Dragons take us to the skies where in reality mankind has only recently achieved that, and we have needed technology to do so. There is not a creature in the world that can bear us skyward, but dragons can! Flying dragons gives me great scope for showing how you might learn. Some people ride horses, others motorbikes, everyone drives cars... but dragons? Dragons belong to dreams and everyone can dream. But then how would someone learn? You can’t just get on a dragon and fly, any more than you could sit behind the wheel of a car and drive. History can provide the best inspiration. Once Roman cavalry fought without stirrups; that meant that you were often knocked from your saddle, and if you couldn’t remount you were dead. So all legionaries had to practice on a wooden horse, a tradition that lives on in modern gymnastics. So why not a wooden dragon? With a little creativity to make it go up and down and side to side and spin around, you have a wooden dragon that mimics flying. In this illustration the esquires are trying to make Root’s life a misery by giving him a saddle that doesn’t fit.

But...and there is always a but, if you are like Root then you are afraid of heights and you get travel sick, and yes, there is much of me in Root. I have never grown out of being travel sick. I hate flying....all that emptiness below, and the slightest turbulence and my stomach rapidly follows suit. Poor old Root....

The reality is that if we came across a dragon most of us would probably faint, and that is exactly what Root does! He tries not to be scared. Even when he is reassured that this girl is not a carnivore and loves her thistles and honey tablets, he finds those teeth and claws a bit too scary. The fact that Chasing the Stars has a wicked sense of humour doesn’t help.

Of course there are also domestic dragons in the Dragon Whisperer. You meet them in the paddocks of Dragonsdome and at the Winter Jousts. But just because they are placid herbivores does not mean they don't have character. The Windglen Widdershanks gifted to Root has a wicked sense of humour and proves to be feisty and very brave - just like her master! I think Chasing the Stars is my favourite dragon so far.

And then again there is the nitty-gritty of flying. Glamorous? Exciting? Well yes, but those of us who drive motorbikes know that unless you can afford the best kit, the leathers, boots, helmet and gloves, you still get cold and wet, and hanging on the back as pillion passenger when you’re travelling at warp factor nine is exhausting! And that would be the reality of dragon flying. But you would still want to give it a go, wouldn’t you? Well, does the hapless Root? This final illustration from The Dragon Whisperer gives you a clue, but go on, find out for yourself...because even for adults, dragons rekindle our childhood wonder for the world. Dragons give us wings.

~~~

I agree! A part of me thinks dragons do exist and that I need to have one :D

Thank you Lucinda for this wonderful post on dragons and a bazillion thank you to RHCB for sending me copies of the books (reviews to come up soon!).

Flight to Dragon Isle is the second book in the Dragonsdome Chronicles published by Random House Children's Books (the first book is The Dragon Whisperer) which you can buy from any bookshop! Also, how beautiful are the covers? Seriously, I want a poster!!

Do not hesitate to visit Lucinda's website as it is full of gorgeous illustrations of the Chronicles made by the author herself!

The Hours - Michael Cunningham | Guest review by Andrew for Lesbian Teen Novels Week

2011-08-01T19:30:00.000+01:00

This is the last review for the Lesbian Teen Novels Week hosted here.

If you would like more information about the week,

head over here.

When I asked around if people wanted to write guest reviews for the week,

Andrew from The Pewter Wolf volunteered with this book.

It isn't per se a young adult novel, but I can remember devouring Virginia Woolf's books and loving the film version of The Hours when I was in high school so I thought it was a perfect choice to finish this week. One book which is one of the many possibilities you can read to develop your literary tastes as well as make you think. It seems fitting that teenagers read about the importance of one moment's choice.

~~~

When Portrait of the Woman asked on Twitter if anyone would like to take part in Lesbian Teen Novel Week, I was quite excited and thought it would be cool and interesting idea to take part in. Now, after a few hours of trying to think of a novel that uses lesbian characters as lead characters (It was too soon to reread Huntress by Malinda Lo [which, I thought, was a wonderful fantasy story with a lovely romance] and I didn't have a copy of The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson [which I heard is a very good read!]), I decided to reread my copy of The Hours by Michael Cunningham (which doesn’t technically come under “Lesbian Teen Novel” but I asked if this was okay to read).

The Hours follows a day in the lives of three women in three different time zones, each unrelated to the other yet whose lives are intertwined by one event: a book. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. We follow the day in the life of the author, the reader and the character. Virginia Woolf is starting to write Mrs Dalloway in the early 20th century, Laura Brown is reading Mrs Dalloway in 1960s America and Clarissa Vaughan (who is nicknamed Mrs Dalloway) is going to throw a party that evening in late 1990s New York City.

I first read this just before the film based on this book came out in 2003 and, at the time, I really enjoyed this book. It was so different to what I have read before and the ideas of writing an ordinary day in the lives of three seemingly ordinary women was interesting. No wonder it won awards like the Pulitzer Prize (which at the time - and now, actually - I still don’t truly understand).

But now, rereading and rewatching the movie in 2011, I am beginning to doubt my memory of the book as things are creeping up that I had not noticed before.

I understand what the book is trying to do. It’s trying to write what can happen within a moment and how important a day can be to a person who makes decisions that could and would change your life forever. Basically, Michael Cunningham is doing the same thing Virginia Woolf did within Mrs Dalloway.

But it seems to me, the second time I read this, that it fell a tad flat. There are times when it feels like the book is repeating itself. There was a chapter where we follow Virginia Woolf where she goes into her bathroom and washes her face. Within the one paragraph, we are told three times that she washes her face and doesn’t look in the mirror.

However, the book becomes interesting the further you read. The last five or six chapters are my fave as it all comes to a head as is the prologue which has no real impact to the story but if you know the life story of Virginia Woolf, it makes sense and rings true.

Now, let’s touch on the subject of love. With the story where we follow Virginia Woolf and Laura Brown, both are married and both kiss a woman. But it’s Clarissa’s story that tackles her being a lesbian. She is in a relationship with her partner, Sally, for over several years and she has a straight daughter. Most of her friends that we meet are gay or bisexual and nothing about this felt sensation. It felt normal. Clarissa and Sally have been a couple for years and they acted like a couple for years. Under the new laws that has happened in the state of New York, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were a married couple. It felt like I was reading a typical couple. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Now, the film. I do like the film. I think I prefer the film to the book, but of course, things have changed from the book version of the Hours to the film version of The Hours. For example, Laura Brown goes to a hotel. In the book, she goes there to escape the “failure” of the birthday cake she has made and to have think to herself. It is only there where she realises how easy it would be to die. How easily it would be to kill herself. In the film, however, she goes to the hotel with the idea of killing herself in mind. It’s only after a nightmare of drowning that she changes her mind.

But, out of the two, I would say watch the film. Meryl Streep can’t seem to do anything wrong!

~~~

Thank you Andrew for this lovely review!

I will go and grab a copy at the library, I love the idea of it being a re-creation of Mrs Dalloway!

What Now? | Lesbian Teen Novels Week

2011-08-01T14:09:00.000+01:00

This is my last post for the Lesbian Teen Novels Week hosted here.

If you would like more information about the week,

head over here.

~~~

This week is over guys (well, there will be one last review to be posted later today!) and I had such a fantastic time! Thanks to all those who posted guest reviews, reviews and articles on their blogs or retweeted this week's posts, I've had very nice comments about this from new readers/followers so I am really glad some people found some great book recommendations! I am also very happy that more and more people (who are not gay or questioning their identity/sexuality) want to read LGBT fiction.

Lesbian fiction is not just about two women falling in love. It really isn't. It has *gasp* exactly the same themes as general fiction plus a few more. Acceptance for being different works just as well with sexuality as with ethnicity, religious origins, health, etc. Julie Anne Peters says in a letter printed at the end of Keeping You A Secret that she had many people writing to her about this book, and not only gay teens, and how it had helped them go throught their teenage years. Some themes in young adult literature are definitely universal.

Teenagers can also choose to discover other authors and novels which are not specifically aimed at young adults. I'm pretty sure I was reading more adult fiction as a teen than I am now (oops!). One of the most famous contemporary lesbian fiction author is Sarah Waters. She writes historical fiction (think Charles Dickens with a lesbian twist). The branding of LGBT literature as "genre fiction" (read "erotica") when it isn't really any different from general fiction is the biggest problem and it is even more an issue for teenagers who wouldn't go seek a book in those shelves. Thankfully, Sarah Waters is one of those authors who are not discarded to the erotica shelves but showcased in the general fiction ones - let's hope many other authors will follow her!

If you hang around this blog often, you might know that I am a bit of a feminist and I really love strong female characters and abhor weak ones (unless they are here to be a counter-example). As a teen I discovered Virginia Woolf in my English class and I really fell for her ideas. I didn't like *her* that much when I read her biography (though I understand her better now), but her ideas and her way of writing resonated deeply in me. I felt that what she was writing about her time, was what I was feeling in mine. Obviously, times had changed and everything, but I still felt confined in a place for reasons I couldn't fathom at the time. If my earlier teens were mainly confused, I think that my later teens had that rebellious streak you can find in Virginia Woolf's novels and essays.

A lot of narrow-minded people think that feminists are lesbians and that, worse, "feminist" is an insulting word one should be ashamed of. *sigh* It isn't (I shall not bore you to death by proving that with actual arguments) and some people today could really use reading now some of the best essays and novels on the woman condition. Things appear to have changed more than they actually have, you'll see.

Because this week is not just a drop in the ocean but more of a commitment, I thought I wouldn't leave you hanging with just a few recommendations. There are different places where you can find Lesbian teen novels:

Wikipedia has a page for that here (of course it does)
You can find lists on Goodreads or Amazon
There are quite a few blogs (not specifically YA though) centred on LGBT literature which you can Google but you can also go on The Lesbrary which has a fantastic blogroll and a weekly review round up. You Can also visit the GLBT Reading Challenge for book tips.
Besides being a fantastic author, Malinda Lo is also very active in the blogosphere to get people to read more diverse books (sexuality is one of the aspect, there is also the religion, origins etc.), so go check out the blog Diversity in YA.
Bella Books is a publisher/retailer which specialises in lesbian fiction, go visit their website and their blog.
For the UK people, the lesbian magazine Diva has a book feature every issue and there is even more content and links on their website.
I'm probably forgetting loads of things so don't hesitate to ask around on Twitter etc. to have more info :)

(Sorry if I rambled too much)

(I couldn't help it)

I hope you guys had as much fun as I did and could discover some fab books!

Cheers,

Caroline x

The Sky Always Hears Me... and The Hills Don't Mind - Kirstin Cronn-Mills | Lesbian Teen Novels Week

2011-07-31T12:39:00.000+01:00

I am reviewing this book as part of

the Lesbian Teen Novels Week hosted here.

If you would like more information about the week,

head over here.

~~~

Summary from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Morgan lives in a hick town in the middle of Nebraska. College is two years away. Her mom was killed in a car accident when she was three, her dad drinks, and her stepmom is a non-entity. Her boyfriend Derek is boring and her coworker Rob has a very cute butt that she can't stop staring at. Then there's the kiss she shared with her classmate Tessa...

But when Morgan discovers that the one person in the world she trusted most has kept a devastating secret from her, Morgan must redefine her life and herself.

~~~

The Sky Always Hears Me and The Hills Don't Mind is absolutely fantastic. Morgan's voice is unique and you will want to read this book only for this!

Morgan is a roughly regular teenager, she is a bit of a geek so she isn't very popular. She doesn't have any friends, just Girls To Sit By at lunch, her having a popular jock boyfriend was a bit of an accident, and now she is stuck with him whereas he's a bit boring. She has a crush on Rob who works as an assistant manager in the grocery store where she works (well, technically, she has more of a crush on his butt) and she was kissed by her friend Tessa a few nights before. Very complicated love life, indeed! She is a bit lost, especially since her dad is an alcoholic, and her step-mom kind of invisible and her brothers have very unique personalities. Morgan gives funny names to people and things and the only thing she wants is to get out of here fast. Her voice is grittily honest and it feels just like being in her head.

Morgan wants to write the Great American Novel as well as write fortunes. The entire book is filled with the fortunes she comes up with during the day. She has a very clear voice and her personality just comes through the narration. there are some truly laugh out loud moments in the book and there are some very touching ones (I read the book in one sitting in a café and I looked like an idiot laughing out loud and crying but oh well). Morgan is very close to her grandmother and she feels that she is the only one to truly understand her. When Morgan isn't feeling well, she takes her grandmother's car and drives up the hill and screams her frustration to the sky (hence the title).

The story is from the point of view of Morgan and how she is trying to help Tessa who is coming out. At the beginning Morgan doesn't really know if Tessa is just experimenting or if she is actually a lesbian. It is such a small and mostly narrow-minded town that when Tessa and another girl are found naked in the same bed, everyone assumes it is a "sleep-over" which is absolutely hilarious to read from Morgan's point of view, who knows it is more than that. Morgan has to deal with Tessa's crush on her and the fact that people think she is a lesbian too for being friends with Tessa. Morgan's position, as the straight friend of a lesbian in high school, is really fascinating to read. She herself wonders if she feels something for Tessa and she at times stands by her, at others doesn't know how to react. The reaction of everyone else to Tessa is very harsh but luckily she is one tough girl and can take care of herself, I really loved her character.

There are a lot of themes in this book and the most important one, I felt, was choosing a positive feeling rather than be mad, embarrassed, mean or spiteful. Morgan goes through the story making those choices and i really loved her for it.

I can't say much more not to spoil the story but Morgan's voice, the crazy (and quite realistic) personalities of most of the characters and the story will make you fall for this book. I cannot wait to read more by this author and I know that, the book being so fantastic, I will be rereading it soon!

The Sky Always Hears Me and The Hills Don't Mind by Kirstin Cronn-Mills | 2009 | Flux | Borrowed from Lauren @ I Was A Teenage Book Geek

Keeping You A Secret - Julie Anne Peters | Lesbian Teen Novels Week

2011-07-30T11:34:00.000+01:00

I am reviewing this book as part of

the Lesbian Teen Novels Week hosted here.

If you would like more information about the week,

head over here.

~~~

Summary from Goodreads:

As she begins a very tough last semester of high school, Holland finds herself puzzled about her future and intrigued by a transfer student who wants to start a lesbigay club at school.

~~~

I have been a huge fan of Julie Anne Peters after reading her beautiful and sensitive book Luna about a girl born in a boy's body (my review here) and I think that Keeping You A Secret is my favourite lesbian young adult novel. I love the story, the writing, the characters and the themes present in this book. But I know this is my favourite because this is the one book I wish was translated into French so that I could give it to my parents to read. I don't come from a place where homosexuality is seen as remotely ok, you often hear that gay people are "disturbed" or that "you wouldn't leave your children with them" and I found that Keeping You A Secret showed a lot of things I felt inside and never been able to express. It talks about the beauty of love and the hurt one feels when confronted with the hate and ignorance around.

Holland lives a pretty regular life, she is in her senior year in high school, is class president, has a lot of friends, does sports and has a loving boyfriend. For her last semester in high school she took way too many classes, including an Art Class she has no reasons to be in. Then she meets Cece, she has a long blond ponytail, a cryptic t-shirt (IMRU?) and a whole lot of confidence. From that moment on, Holland can't stop thinking about her and starts to question herself and her sexuality.

Holland's self-discovery is brilliantly told in this book. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling the read for you but I could really relate to what was going on in her mind and how she couldn't put words on the feelings for Cece which were starting to grow inside of her. Holland and Cece feel passionately attracted to each other but it's by getting to know one another that they really fall in love.

Another side of Holland is how misunderstood she is by her own family. Her mother, who had Holland at 16 and had to go to work early instead of going to College has a love/hate relationship with Holland. Of course she loves her daughter and is fiercely protective of her, but you feel the resentment coming through every now and then. Holland's mother also wants to live through her so Holland doesn't get much of a say over her life. She used to find it annoying before, but now that the college application deadlines are coming up, her mother is becoming downright unbearable and will not let Holland choose a future for herself. This type of pressure on teenagers is very common from parents and Julie Anne Peters shows brilliantly the consequences it has on teenagers. Holland has no idea what she wants to do in her life, she is doing good in all her classes but doesn't have real affinities with any. Then she starts this Art class as a way to fill in a blank period. Art is obviously not a career possibility for her mother, but Holland realises that she really likes it, and quite surprisingly, that she is good at it.

Throughout the book is also shown the type of homophobia that gay people have to go through regularly. Everyone is "fine with homosexuality" (you know, because it isn't very proper to be full-on against it) but you realise that their actions don't add up to what they say. That parents have this attitude, you can sort of see where they're coming from, but a lot of the hate comes from teenagers themselves. When Cece wants to create the Lesbigay club in Holland's high school, everyone says that "there are no gays in the school" and they don't understand why a Lesbigay club would be useful anyway. Obviously, this isn't true and many of the teens questioning their sexuality would rather wait for college to actually come out because there is no way they would "survive high school" if they didn't.

The book is about a lesbian love story and how a teenager has to face her family and peers to be accepted for who she is, but it's also a universal story for all the people who go through this type of bullying in school and who feel there isn't anyone to help them.

One of the aspects of the book I loved is how Cece's character explains what a Lesbigay club entails and how they help people how to come out and that if all hell breaks lose and your family and friends turn against you, you are not alone because there is a big loving family just waiting for you. There is a real positive message in this book without the reality being sugar-coated in any way. It really shows you that things do get better. This is a very powerful book that really hit home for me, but I am sure other people will learn a lot by reading it, especially those who are not themselves questioning their sexuality. I really feel that for parents or friends of people who just came out, reading this book would be really helpful.

Keeping You A Secret by Julie Anne Peters | 2005 | Little, Brown | Bought on Amazon.

About A Girl - Joanne Horniman | Lesbian Teen Novels Week

2011-07-28T22:40:00.001+01:00

I am reviewing this book as part of

the Lesbian Teen Novels Week hosted here.

If you would like more information about the week,

head over here.

~~~

Summary from Amazon:

I remember the first time that we lay together and I felt the crackle of her dark hair between my fingers, and closed my eyes and breathed her in, so that she became my entire world. Anna is afraid she must be unlovable - until she meets Flynn. Together, the girls swim, eat banana cake, laugh and love. Some days Flynn is unreachable; other days she's at Anna's window - but when Anna discovers her secret, she wonders if she knows Flynn at all. A beautifully crafted novel that explores the tension between the things that pull people together and the things that push them apart.

~~~

I found this book in Foyles and the original cover caught my eyes on a table, then I had the pleasant surprise to discover that this was a lesbian young adult novel and that the book was set in the author’s native country, Australia - I couldn't be more thrilled!

The book is about 19-year-old Anna who lives in small town and works in a bookshop. She lives far from her family and has no friends but she finds all she needs in books. Especially the dark ones written by dead Russian writers. Then one day she meets Flynn (well, she really is Rose but everyone calls her Flynn) and Anna realises that she needs more in her life, that she needs Flynn in her life.

They both fall for each other and they start getting to know each other even if they are cautious to share some parts of their past.

The book perfectly encapsulates the characteristics of first love. It's like being short-sighted all your life and suddenly putting on glasses: you finally realise what you've been missing out your whole life and what you now can't live without. Anna thought her entire life that she was not lovable and that no one would ever love her. The day before, Anna was roughly satisfied with her life (as much as a lonely and depressed 19 year old could be, that is) and the day after she can't stop thinking and obsessing about Flynn. Because love may be a beautiful thing but has some obsessive, absolute and all-encompassing aspect to it. And as Anna and Flynn get to know each other, we get to know more about them and reevaluate what we have been thinking all along since the beginning.

A part of the book tells the teenage years of Anna and how she had to go through the divorce of her parents and how her little sister has learning disabilities. Even though Anna loves her sister Molly, she sometimes resents the attention her sister gets instead of her. Anna also feels "like a freak" for being gay and she closes herself to the people around her.

One aspect of the story is Anna's depression, and I thought that young adult novels on the subject are far too few. It is very respectfully and realistically described and I thought it added a very interesting layer to Anna's personality.

Creativity is an important part of the book as well: Flynn is a musician and has a very lively personality (she names her belongings and talks to her guitar). It also shows how a creative activity can bring out your deeply hidden emotions which you feel you can't talk about. It definitely reminded me of Melinda in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson who progressively finds her voice in art class. Some traumas are hard to get out there and I loved how Flynn tried to find a way to express herself.

The story is very much centred around the two main characters and their stories. The book is told from Anna's point of view and her obsession with Flynn was hard to follow at times, but the book’s writing kept me going. You might not be able to like the characters or be fascinated by this love story, but the writing is very beautiful that it holds you until the very last page. It really has been a pleasure to read and I highly recommend it if you are reading books leaning on the more literary side of the force.

This is a very sweet love story, but most of all the coming of age story of a girl who needs to get away to find herself. The passages on Anna's depression and on Flynn's creativity as a means to escape and deal with reality as well as the beautiful writing really made this book special for me. I will be looking out for Joanne Horniman's other novels!

About A Girl by Joanne Horniman | 2010 | Allen and Unwin | Bought in Foyles.

The Bermudez Triangle - Maureen Johnson | Guest review by Raimy for Lesbian Teen Novels Week

2011-07-27T15:31:00.049+01:00

This book review is part of

the Lesbian Teen Novels Week hosted here.

If you would like more information about the week,

head over here.

I am thrilled to welcome Raimy from Readaraptor

to review this wonderful book by Maureen Johnson.

Raimy has been posting quite a few article for the week,

so don't hesitate to head over her blog to check them out!

~~~

Summary from Goodreads:

What happens when your two best friends fall in love...with each other?
"Their friendship went so far back, it bordered on the Biblical -- in the beginning, there was Nina and Avery and Mel." So says high school senior Nina Bermudez about herself and her two best friends, nicknamed "The Bermudez Triangle" by a jealous wannabe back on Nina's eleventh birthday. But the threesome faces their first separation when Nina goes away the summer before their senior year. And in ten short weeks, everything changes.
Nina returns home bursting with stories about Steve, the quirky yet adorable eco-warrior she fell for hard while away. But when she asks her best friends about their summer romances, an awkward silence follows.
Nina soon learns the shocking truth when she sees Mel and Avery...kissing. Their friendship is rocked by what feels like the ultimate challenge. But it's only the beginning of a sometimes painful, sometimes funny, always gripping journey as three girls discover who they are and what they really want.

~~~

“Look at us, we are the three

Nina, Mel and there’s Avery

Shout it loud, shout it louder,

Shout it out, Triangle Power!”

Nina, Mel and Avery form the Bermudez Triangle. Best friends since childhood they picked up the name during one of Nina’s birthday parties when another girl was jealous of their closeness. Spending all time together no matter what their relationship is tested when Nina goes off to precollege the summer before their senior year. Everything changes that summer and when Nina gets back she realises that maybe the triangle can some distorted shape once in a while, especially when it transpires that Avery and Mel are now more than just friends.

Ok so let me just get this one out in the open straight away; The Bermudez Triangle is AMAZING! Go read, now!

I had been anticipating this one for so long that I was actually worried about reading it! Thankfully it really lived up to the hype that I’d given it in my head so I was really happy with the outcome!

The three girls reminded me of the type of friends I’d always wanted when I was growing up; those girls who I’d known forever and would be friends with for life no matter what happened. Unfortunately I didn’t get it and I met my awesome friends for life in Uni but I loved what Nina, Mel and Avery had so much and it felt so right!

The characters and what they were all going through seemed very realistic and I could easily picture them in my mind. I had all of their looks right down to their clothes and the way they wore them so clear in my mind that I could see them walking down the street in certain scenes! I loved their development throughout the book and I really think this book should be read by anyone and everyone because it captures the coming of age element brilliantly.

I read this one as a part of Caroline’s Lesbian Teen Novels Week but I wanted to read it anyway. LGBT books shout out to me because I love to see how well the authors can put these themes across. I think Maureen Johnson captured everything brilliantly, right down to the straight girl thinking about the possibility that she was gay just because her friends were. All the ups and downs of working out who you are and what you want were cleverly put across in this book and I just loved it. You got the arses that make wise-cracks about being gay and who are obviously too narrow minded to think more than “ooo two gay girls, come on then, put on a show!” But at the same time you got the beauty of finally realising who you are and being happy about yourself.

I loved that there were different aspects of this book, it wasn’t all about coming to terms with your sexuality, coming out and having lesbian relationships, there was also the idea of becoming attracted to your best friends - male and female - and having straight relationships. All three girls had their own stuff going on so it wasn’t all just all Mel and Avery; they all had their own thoughts and feelings.

I loved the girls so much but I really got annoyed with Avery… She seemed really selfish and there were times when I just wanted Nina and Mel to tell her to bugger off. She grew on me though and I do think that maybe her selfishness and annoyingness was an avoidance technique.

Obviously I have to give Parker a mention too! Parker is an awesomely cute, funny boy who I honestly wanted to adopt as my own! He was lovely and sweet and I felt so sorry for him sometimes as he was lumbered in the middle a lot. The Triangle kinda adopted him during the months that the book was set over and I think he made a brilliant addition to the story!

Overall I honestly believe that straight or gay, young or old, The Bermudez Triangle is one of the best coming of age stories I have read. I knew Maureen Johnson was a pretty damn cool author before I’d read this and now it’s confirmed, she is a genius! I couldn’t get enough of this book and Its definitely going in my top reads of all time!

~~~

Thank you Raimy for this fabulous review!

The Rules For Hearts - Sara Ryan | Lesbian Teen Novels Week

2011-07-26T22:51:00.000+01:00

I am reviewing this book as part of

the Lesbian Teen Novels Week hosted here.

If you would like more information about the week,

head over here.

~~~

Summary from Goodreads:

Battle Hall Davies is sure of some things: she's going to Reed; she loves girls; and her older brother, Nick, is cooler than she could ever be. Nick ran away when Battle was in high school, and four years later, he's tracked her down. Now she's spending her summer before college in Forest House, the co-op where he lives in Portland. Battle is quickly swept into Forest House's community Shakespeare production, its all-night card games, and the arms of her new roommate, Meryl. It turns out that Nick isn't who Battle thought he was and Battle's not who she thought she was, either.

~~~

Even though the book isn't a sequel strictly speaking (you can read this one without having read Empress Of The World), it is still set after Empress Of The World so I will try to keep the spoilers at bay, but be warned! Head over here to read my review of Empress Of The World.

I honestly couldn't say which of the two books I prefer. They do have things in common, the characters, the style of writing the general characteristics of the story, but they are stories so different that I can't even compare (not that you should compare books in the first place). I felt very different emotions while reading them and they also brought me different things. Sara Ryan's stories are like a snippet of her characters' lives. It follows them during the few months of summer and then leaves them without trying to force on a resolution or some sort of closure on the story. I like that aspect because it feels like real life so much more than a story with a clear-cut beginning, middle and end.

Battle has finished high school and the summer before going to college she goes to Portland to live in the cooperative house with her brother Nick. Nick left his parents' home at 16 and never gave any news to them, but he kept a bit contact with Battle. Battle loves her brother and she missed him so much. You have the feeling that during his absence, she kind of idolised him. Progressively, Battle gets on with the day-to-day life at the house and begins to see through her brother and learn more of who he is as well as who she is herself.

As in Empress of the World, the focus of the book is on characters and The Rules for Hearts has a bigger cast of varied personalities. Since we are seeing the story through Battle's eyes, we get a much better glimpse as to who she is and how she has evolved since the previous year. We also get to know more about what happened in her family and why Nick left. His personality is interesting and I feel that one of Sara Ryan's talent is to show a person with everything laid out in the open and you can't say this person is good or bad because this is so irrelevant. I *love* Meryl :D she is just so unique! I don't agree with everything she does but she has a great personality and she is a nice counterpart for Battle. I love the characters in the house, I live myself in a shared flat and having roommates is awesome (except when they do karaoke every night)!

The family is explored in this, but it is more the family you choose than the one you inherit. You might not be able to fit in with your family as much as you want, and sometimes, you create your own family along the road with people you meet and who know and understand you. It definitely symbolises the change from the friends and family you might have during high school when still living with your parents to entering adulthood and daring more to stand up for yourself. That's for me why it would be a really interesting book for 16 year olds and older to read before they leave their home for Uni themselves.

I love how homosexuality and other gender identity themes are present in the book without being the focus. It *is* an LGBT novel, but that's not all it is. If Empress Of The World explored that part of Battle's life where she comes to term with her sexuality, The Rules For Hearts is more a time for Battle to experience life, which is one of the reasons why those two novels are so different in a sense. There is some romance in there as well and I loved how realistically and sensitively it was portrayed.

The book is centred around A Midsummer's Night Dream which Aurora (owner of the house where they live) is directing so there's a cast list at the beginning and the chapters are divided in Acts and scenes. I *loved* that! Such a great way to link style and plot and the preparations for the play are great to read.

In just two books, I became a huge fan of Sara Ryan and her style and I really love her take on the characters she created. This story features some more "grown up" themes and really explore that moment where teenagers become adults and choose their lives for themselves. Everyone should read this book :)

The Rules For Hearts by Sara Ryan | 2007 | Speak | Bought on Amazon

Empress Of The World - Sara Ryan | Lesbian Teen Novels Week

2011-07-26T13:54:00.000+01:00

I am reviewing this book as part of

the Lesbian Teen Novels Week hosted here.

If you would like more information about the week,

head over here.

~~~

Summary from Goodreads:

Nicola Lancaster is spending the summer at the Siegel Institute Summer Program for Gifted Youth-a hothouse of smart, articulate, intense teenagers, living like college students for eight weeks. Nic's had theater friends and orchestra friends, but never just friend friends. And she's certainly never had a relationship. But on the very first day, she falls in with Katrina the Computer Girl, Isaac the West Coast Nice-Guy-Despite-Himself, Kevin the Inarticulate Composer...and Battle. Battle Hall Davies is a beautiful blonde dancer from North Carolina. She's everything Nic isn't. Soon the two are friends-and then, startlingly, more than friends. What do you do when you think you're attracted to guys, and then you meet a girl who steals your heart?

~~~~

A little while back, I was rummaging through Amazon to find lesbian teen novels and fell on Empress Of The World. I found the cover so beautifully poetic and evocative that I immediately bought it. The story is beautiful, the characters endearing and the story-telling wonderful! I searched for other novels written by Sara Ryan and realised that she had written a companion novel to Empress Of The World, The Rules For Hearts. This second book is different from the first and brings different themes and feelings. You definitely need to read them both!

Nicola is one of those girls who spends her time over-analysing things in her head and isn't very sociable, she goes to the Siegel Institute Program for Gifted Youth for the summer to confirm her lifelong dream of being an archeologyst. Nic doesn't know what to expect from the Institute and is very surprised to become friends with a bunch of people on the first day. People who even *gasp* want to spend time with her. There is Katrina the crazy computer girl who has the best personality ever, Isaac the shy nice guy who is attracted to Katrina, the annoying Kevin (like Nicola, I found him utterly annoying, so there, last time I will mention his existence) and then there is Battle. Battle Hall Davies is a beautiful girl named after a building (parents are just so cruel sometimes) who has already been to the Institute the year before and is studying history.

Nicola may not have been that much bothered about defining her identity and her sexuality before, but she only needs to glance at Battle once to feel profoundly attracted to her. Battle is not only beautiful but clever and spiritual and full of mystery. At first, Nicola thinks that whatever is going on in her is a sort of admiration and jealousy for the perfect Battle, but she soon realises that there is so much more... and that it might be mutual [insert swoon here].

This is a very sweet tale of finding yourself and first love. The writing was very sensitive and the story adorable. It felt very real and relatable the way they realise their infatuation and tiptoe around each other wondering what it would be like to be together and then relax and start to be themselves with each other. Very much like A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend I reviewed yesterday, the story isn't about "I am a lesbian, and I've always know I was a lesbian, and I will never look at a boy in my entire life", it is about falling for someone whose personality and attitude makes your heart beat faster and brings butterflies in your stomach, regardless of who that person is. It is about finding someone with whom you can be yourself.

The book also talks about parents/children relationships. Nicola comes from a very sheltered background, in a family where her parents love each other and she feels loved, and she has never questioned the relation they had. But then she meets this group of people and half of them have parents who are divorced and others have terrible relations with their families, etc. It is a recurrent theme in YA and even MG novels where parents are either dead, divorced, unknown or don't care about their children but I felt that it was subtly and realisitically shown through the story of the characters in here.

And talking about them, the characters are the best aspect of the novel: multi-faceted, believable, full of crushes and silly aspirations in life, I really felt like I was back in high school and had a life of choices in front of me. I really liked how different Nicola and Battle were. Nicola is at times a bit fastidious by over-thinking things all the time, but I was exactly the same at her age and a tiny crush would roughly take over my life for a week until I was becoming ill of it and ended up rationalising that it would never work and found something else to occupy my thoughts (*cough* I mean, I know someone who knows someone who may have been doing that, not me at all *cough*). I loved Battle's character and I'm really glad we get to see more of her in The Rules For Hearts. Katrina is literally the best character ever and you need to read the book to discover her complete awesomeness. She made me laugh out loud more than once and I really wish she was real. Isaac isn't very present at first, always shy and crushing on Katrina, but he progressively gets more and more open and I thought he was genuinely adorable. They are all geeks (the real deal, not the fake ones who think that wearing glasses makes them intelligent), they work hard at school and do think about other things in life than partying and be ultra cool and popular all the time so they were fantastic to read about. Even though Nicola faces some harsh dumb homophobic comments and there are some dark passages, it is a really uplifting story.

I love this book to pieces, it has everything that I love in books from the setting to the characters, the humour and the more serious themes in the background. The romance is the cutest thing ever so all you romance lovers will love it. I cannot recommend it enough!

Empress Of The World by Sara Ryan | 2001 | Speak | Bought on Amazon

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend - Emily Horner | Lesbian Teen Novels Week

2011-07-25T14:06:00.001+01:00

I am reviewing this book as part of

the Lesbian Teen Novels Week hosted here.

If you would like more information about the week,

head over here.

~~~

Summary from Goodreads:

For months, Cass Meyer has heard her best friend Julia, a wannabe Broadway composer, whispering about a top-secret project. Then Julia is killed in a sudden car accident, and while Cass is still reeling from her death, Julia’s boyfriend and her other drama friends make it their mission to bring to fruition the nearly-completed secret project: a musical about an orphaned ninja princess entitled Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad.

Cass isn’t one of the drama people. She doesn’t feel at home with Julia’s drama friends, and she doesn’t see a place for her in the play. Things only get worse when she finds out that Heather Galloway, the girl who made her miserable all through middle school, has been cast as the ninja princess.

Cass can’t take a summer of swallowing her pride and painting sets, so she decides to follow her original plan for a cross-country road trip with Julia. Even if she has a touring bicycle instead of a driver’s license, and even if Julia’s ashes are coming along in Tupperware.

Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad is a story about friendship. About love. About traveling a thousand miles just to find yourself. About making peace with the past, and making sense of it. And it’s a story about the bloodiest high school musical one quiet suburb has ever seen.

~~~~

This book was recommended to me quite a long time ago by Lauren from I Was A Teenage Book Geek and I completely fell for this beautiful story which has some truly laugh out loud moments.

Cass has been friends with Julia ever since they were young and their friendship is as strong as one between two very different and complementary personalities. Cass is very introverted and loves math while Julia is into theatre and music and anything arty. If Cass is mostly withdrawn, Julia is full of life and bubbly. Julia has a boyfriend and a group of theatre friends and she makes Cass feel included in this group.

Then one day Julia dies in a car accident and Cass's world falls apart. She realises that without Julia, she doesn't have friends anymore, not even the theatre group who are so different from her. When they decide to do Julia's secret project - a hilarious musical with ninjas - Cass offers to help to create the set, until the group hires Heather, Cass's nemesis and the girl who has been bullying her at school, in the role that would have been Julia's, the ninja princess. They have a huge fight and Cass decides to go on the road trip she had planned with Julia for the summer. She is bringing Julia's ashes with her without telling her friends or even Oliver, Julia's boyfriend. Cass will not come back the same of this trip.

The book is divided between Then and Now, Then when Cass decides to go on the road trip and Now when she comes back home. Even though this is a tiny book, there are several themes present in the book and I liked how the serious aspects were counter-balanced by the slight craziness of Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad and Julia's personality always present in the book.

Cass is a very interesting, though not always likeable, character in this story. She is very introverted and even though her parents love her, Julia is the one to matter for Cass. Cass is bullied at school and doesn't have any other friends - not that she is interested to make any anyway. Cass didn't have much in her life, but she had Julia who made everything ok. The loss of Julia hits Cass hard, so hard that she isolates herself from everyone else.
Cass never really tried to understand her feelings for Julia - they were close friends and that was it. But when Julia starts seeing Oliver, Cass starts feeling a bit jealous. Of course there are rumours started by Heather that Cass is a lesbian and everyone assumes that Cass has always been in love with Julia, but Cass never realised this herself. Even though she toughened a bit because of this and she always had Julia to defend her, Cass withdrew herself even more.
Her progressive realisation of herself and of her sexuality comes with the painful reality of the object of her affection being dead. Emily Horner describes this very sensitively I thought. Not everyone knows which gender they are attracted to since age 4 when they had a crush on their kindergarten teacher. Some people need to fall in love with someone to realise this and it is too bad that people always feel the need to know immediately and label people. Some people need time to get to know themselves, and Cass's story shows it exceedingly well.

There are some truly beautiful passages about friendship. I have tears in my eyes just thinking about the end of Cass's road trip and how the love they all felt for Julia brought this group of friends together. I really am and it is embarrassing since I'm at work. There's a really positive message in this and it's definitely the type of book people need to read to understand how some things may affect people deeply.
The part of the story with Heather reminded me a lot of 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher and how one person's actions may cause very serious consequences. I won't spoil the story for you but Heather's character is very interesting and a fantastic counterpart to Cass. The novel also shows how much people hide from others and how much a person can change. This is definitely not a story where evil people are evil and nice people are nice. It is an age where people get to know themselves and decide which type of person they would like to be.

I loved the setting of the novel, may it be in Cass's epic road trip in bicycle through America or the set of Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad. I will be looking out for Emily Horner's next books as I loved everything in this one and I still have the story in me after reading it months ago.
I am probably being confusing as there is so many things to say about this book and how it truly touched me. Cass's story is a beautiful coming of age story where one person loses everything and manages to find herself. It brings a very positive message for themes like bereavement/death, friendship and identity/sexuality. The characters are believable: full of flaws and preceded by a trail of mistakes but it doesn't make them either fondamentally bad or selfish, only human.

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner | 2010 | Dial Books | Bought and read on my kindle | I would advise you to be mainly alone and in reaching distance of a box of tissues.

Lesbian Teen Novels Week! (25-31 July)

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The Lesbian Teen Week will be starting tomorrow. I've already wrote a post about why I decided to organise the week so head over here if you want to read it and find some book suggestions.

During this week I will try to spotlight some young adult novels featuring a lesbian love story or lesbian characters. Even though there are more and more LGBT novels, they are quite scarce in comparison to the number of YA books published each year and LGBT novels also suffer from being categorised as "genre books" in that LGBT section of your local bookshop (if there is one at all) mostly alongside gay erotica. There is a lot of work to be done about this!

Besides being a fan of LGBT novels (well, I like diversity in novels in general, but LGBT is closer to me!), you know I love books with strong female characters and any book which talks about the condition of women. Well some of the novels featuring lesbian characters also bring a very interesting outlook on what it is like to be a woman today. Teenage girls have a lot of pressure from their family, peers or society to become the image of "a woman". Obviously, what parents want, classmates abhor and society usually likes to criticise and praise the same attitude depending on the person. Teenage girls having doubts about their sexuality live this pressure even more acutely and some of the lesbian teen novels are brilliantly putting in words that hurricane of emotions which the girls go through. They are eye-opening even if you are not having doubts about yourself and they help raise awareness of some issues.

Enough of me rambling! Here is the program for the week:
(As the week is finished, all posts are linked below)

Monday

Review of debut novel A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner

A beautiful story of bereavement, friendship, identity and err... ninjas!

Cass sees her world collapse when her best (only?) friend Julia dies in a car accident. She can't explain the pain she feels and she realises that Julia was the one holding their group's friendships together. Now Cass is alone to deal with her feelings, especially since her group of friends decide to finish Julia's musical about a ninja princess and play it at school.

Review of Julia Burchill's Sugar Rush by Raimy from Readaraptor

Tuesday

Sara Ryan day on the blog with a review of Empress Of The World and The Rules For Hearts. I discovered Sara Ryan thanks to the gorgeous cover of Empress Of The World and her novels are one of the most original and sensitive I have ever read and I am in love with both stories.

A discussion post on Why I think LGBT characters are important in YA over on Raimy's blog, Readaraptor.

Review of Malinda Lo's cinderella retelling Ash by Leanne-Luce from YA Forever.

Wednesday

Guest review by the fantastic Raimy of Readaraptor of The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson.

When one girl of a group of three best friends comes back from summer school to find her two friends much closer than before.

Review of Julie Burchill's novel Sweet by Raimy on Readaraptor.

Thursday

Reviewing the Australian novel About A Girl by Joanne Horniman

I fell on this book in Foyles and it looked very original! Goodreads review mention how poetic and beautiful the writing is.

Friday

Raimy @ Readaraptor has re-posted her review of Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle

Saturday

Review of Julie Anne Peters' book Keeping You A Secret

Julie Anne Peters is one of the best writers in young adult fiction and I can't believe some people still haven't read her books! She talks about identity, personality and life like no other YA authors. I will probably organise an ode to her talent in the future :)

Beth at Thoughts From The Hearthfire reviews Ash by Malinda Lo

Sunday

A recommendation of the lovely Lauren from I Was A Teenage Book Geek and Jenny from Wondrous Reads: The Sky Always hears Me... and The Hills Don't Mind by Kirstin Cronn-Mills which sounds like a very cool read with a very interesting main character.

Monday

What now?

When you have discovered and loved lesbian teen novels (may you be a teenage girl questioning your sexuality or not) what else is there to read and think about? It will be a post ~~of me rambling~~ about women in today's society, feminism, a bit of Virginia Woolf and homosexuality...

Followed by guest review by the fantastic Andrew from The Pewter Wolf of The Hours by Michael Cunningham where Virginia Woolf, a fan of Mrs Dalloway in the 1960s and a contemporary Mrs Dalloway all come together.

~~~

I will link other bloggers' post as they go along so don't hesitate to come back to this page to check out the other reviews!

A huge thank you to all the bloggers participating and supporting the week, you guys rock :)

I hope you will find some great books to discover.

Enjoy the week!

x Caroline

RHCB Blogger Brunch.... or mark your calendars!!

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Hi people,

On July 9th, my fellow bloggers and myself were invited to another glorious blogger brunch organised by Random House Children's Books.

[Insert lots of gushing about books and cakes]

It was yet another great occasion to meet bloggers I hadn't previously met and to see again all those I already knew! I also got to meet (and get signed books from!) Andy Mulligan, the author of Trash (my review here) and Lindsey Barraclough, author of Long Lankin (my review here).

Not only is the RHCB staff absolutely adorable, but what a fantastic book year we have coming our way!! I wanted to pick and choose my favourite books from the ones presented to share with you guys but I honestly want to ~~devour~~ read all of them!

Since you are as hopelessly addicted to fantastic books as I am (don't even try to deny it!), I thought I would make things easy and organise the books by their publication dates!

(all links to goodreads for you to add to your TBR shelves!)

... Or which reads to put in your beach bag

You Against Me by Jenny Downham
July 2011

I have loved both this book and Before I Die (read reviews here) and you can now enjoy this wonderful story of loyalty, choices and love in paperback. You Against Me is a brilliant contemporary novel and it makes the reader question oneself while reading. It is very powerful and you can't not read it!

The Devil Walks by Anne Fine

July 2011

With this absolutely chilling novel, Anne Fine brings gothic back. This is definitely the perfect book to read if you are camping alone in a forest (as one often does) or are staying in a house with wood creaking, chills guaranteed! I am waiting for the perfect summer night to read it in one sitting :)

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

August 2011

Completely different book and atmosphere, this is *the* book of the summer not to miss! You love dystopian but feel that the doomy gloomy setting will ruin your holiday? Fear not as Bumped is a dystopian novel leaning on the funny side of the force where teens are "pregging" because of a virus making anyone over 18 infertile. With this half serious half ironic tale, you will get to learn new vocabulary words and challenge your beliefs!

~~~

... Or which books to curl up with on cold and rainy nights

(and no, this section doesn't involve fashionable clothes contrary to what the title suggests)

The Adventures Of The New Cut Gang by Philip Pullman
September 2011 (link to Amazon)
Well... Um... Do I really need to go any further than "Philip Pullman"?
Story of a motley crew of kids solving crimes in Victorian London. It looks fantastic for tweens!

Dearly Departed by Lia Habel
September 2011
Zombies? Steampunk? Victorian customs? Why hello there! If you only visit Lia Habel website, you'll realise that she actually wears Victorian gowns, likes to put rhinestones on random things and that you really need to read her books! I am not one who is into the whole "I love dead people" but I think this book will be hilarious and action-packed so a good choice for a fun evening under the duvet!

This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel
October 2011
Okay guys, this one is a keeper! Mark the pub date with a red cross as you really don't want to miss it! Breath-taking cover. Written by Kenneth Oppel (Half-Brother). It is a prequel to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It will be made into a film by Matt Reeves, director of Let me In and Cloverfield. I am so excited by the whole thing!!!

Runelights by Joanne Harris

November 211

Yes, it is the Chocolat author Joanne Harris who writes a fantasy series! There is a first book in the series, Runemarks, which you have a time to discover before starting Runelights but they work as stand-alones just as well! This book has a feisty heroine, some squabbling Norse gods and godesses and an imminent danger!

The Haunting Of Charity Delafield by Ian Beck

November 2011

Ian Beck is a famous illustrator (his website here) and he got the idea to write a novel after drawing that gorgeous image of a red-haired girl in the snow with a cat (cover above). This story looks very mysterious: Charity is not allowed to go outside of the house, she is not allowed to strain herself because of her "condition"... but Charity dreams of a door which might unlock the meaning of everything.

Unleashed - the Wolf Springs Chronicles by Nancy Holden and Debbie Viguié

December 2011

There are werewolves in the book = I can't wait to read it!!! Katelyn moves to a new town and starts making friends but something is off with them, she feels they are mad, bad and dangerous... Sadly for Katelyn (and luckily for us readers!) she arrives in the middle of a century-long war between werewolf clans!

And you thought I wouldn't mention THE book?

The one I soooo desperately can't wait to get my hands on?

Of course not!

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

November 2011

This is huge!!! The end of the series! *faints*

Get started on the reissues of Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr which are coming out this summer and impatiently wait for the last book!

~~~

... Or new year, new resolutions, fantastic new reads!

Mortal's Kiss: Fool's Silver by Alice Moss

January 2012

This is the second book in a fantastic collaboration between RHCB and the teen website Stardoll. Again, werewolf story = I am sold! The cover is gorgeous and looks deliciously darken than the first one. If you haven't read the first one, you have a few months to read it! This is a great book for the paranormal romance/dark fantasy fans!

Kiss Date Love Hate by Luisa Plaja

February 2012

I am a huge fan of Luisa Plaja's books (my reviews of Split By A Kiss and Swapped By A Kiss) plus she is the most adorable person ever! What if you could change your friends' lives and loves through the settings of a computer game...? A group of friends falling in and out of love and friendship and a Sims-like computer game which can change everything for them... Oh I can't wait to read this :D

Desert Angel by Charlie Price

February 2012

I didn't know what to think of the book by looking at the cover... the setting looks really spooky! One of the new trends in YA is crime and thriller so this will be a perfect read for the fans of the genre with a cat and mouse game between Angel running for her life after witnessing her mother's murder and ruthless hunter in the scorching hot desert...

The Wood Queen by Karen Mahoney

February 2012 (no UK cover yet, but a gorgeous US one)

The sequel to the amazing The Iron Witch will be out next year! Donna Underwood may have saved her friend Navin but she may also have caused some err... issues with the alchemists for destroying the last drops of the elixir of life (oops)! Follow Kaz on Twitter and on her blog and keep an eye out for her Beautiful Ghosts series out in summer 2012!!

Now Is The Time For Running by Michael Williams

February 2012 (no final UK cover yet but an American one)

In this heart-breaking story set in the dusty fields of Zimbabwe, two brothers flee from soldier bringing only death and destruction with their home-made football. In the same vain as Trash by Andy Mulligan or In The Sea There Are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda, this is a fantastic tale of hope and dreams.

~~~

... Or gear up on amazing stories before exams (yawn) and summer (yay)

The Flappers: Vixen by Jillian Larkin

March 2012

Set in the Roaring Twenties this trilogy will bring you into the age of glamorous fashion, entrancing music and devil-may-care lifestyle with the story of bubbly Gloria, her social-climber friend Lorraine and her goody-two-shoes cousin Clara. What an exciting read!

Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan

April 2012

An absolutely fantastic tale from the author of Tender Morsels where a witch helps the men of Rollrock Island to buy a sea-wife... but at a price. I literally can't wait to read this book, I have such a huge passion for anything involving the sea that I really want to discover how Margo Lanagan describes the witch's talents.

Starters by Lissa Price

April 2012

So I can't say much about this book except that, TRUST ME, you will want to read it. Not only does the story sound utterly brilliant, but this is a dystopian book people will talk about. Seriously. 5 April 2011 should be marked with a big fat red cross on your calendar!

Check out the author's blog.

Struck by Jennifer Bosworth

July 2012

Another dystopian, but very close to reality this time! You remember that Harold Camping dude who predicted that on 21st May around 6pm *GASP* THE END OF THE WORLD *GASP* would happen? Besides the fact that "Well that prediction worked just fine - thanks for nothing dude", there is a real fearful frenzy taking over people when this type of declaration is made. When Los Angeles is devastated by a massive earthquake and the city lives in utter chaos, Mia Price realises that she has a connection with the storm that caused the earthquake. Some religious followers prophetised the end of the world and she goes to them to seek some answers.

It sounds so real it is chilly! One not to miss either as the end of the world is near and all that!

~~~~

Phew! That is all people!

I hope you have been furiously writing away the titles of the books to read when they come out! How excited are you? I just literally can't wait to devour all of them!

A massive thank you to everyone at RHCB for bringing us wonderful books to read and for inviting us to this fantastic blogger brunch!

Sarah from Feeling Fictional has taken loads of pictures so check out her article (link to her post)!

Have a lovely evening!

Caroline x