Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (NY: Dutton, 2010).

Anna's all set to enjoy her senior year in Atlanta, but then her dad decides she should go to boarding school. In Paris! She doesn't want to leave her best friend, or her job at the multiplex theater, or Toph, the guy she's been crushing on and who seems to have noticed her--finally! But her father insists, and she quickly finds herself alone in her dorm. Luckily her neighbor rescues her from a crying jag and introduces her to friends, including the immediately entrancing Etienne. Yes, he has an older girlfriend, but surely all his attention means something. Plus, Anna has to step outside her comfort zone and learn to explore a foreign city.

This is a great summer read. The romance is well developed with a dishy boy and a smart, funny heroine, and the setting is magnifique, of course! Highly recommended for ages 13 & up. Sexual situations, alcohol.

Misfit

Misfit by Jon Skovron (NY: Abrams, 2011). Reviewed from e-galley provided by publisher via netgalley.com.

Jael has known she's different since she was eight years old and her dad told her she was half demon. Her mother, a demon, had died when she was three months old, and Jael and her father had led an itinerant existence, moving from one place to another to protect Jael from the demons who felt threatened by her existence. Jael understands her dad's motivations but feels hemmed in by his overprotectiveness. On her sixteenth birthday, Jael's dad gives her a special necklace from her mother, and Jael starts to learn more about her demon heritage--and all the dangers and powers associated with it.

Skovron has a lively writing style, and Jael is a feisty character, so overall Misfit reads well. However, the plot shifted around too much between the past and the present. Also, there was a huge disconnect between Jael's dad's character in the past and what Jael sees in the present. He and Jael's mom had a passionate partnership and battled demons all over the world, yet he seems timid and fearful in the present. Some of this is explained, but not too convincingly. Jael's romance with Rob is not well developed, a surprising contrast to Jael's parents' relationship. Uncle Dagon, a gigantic fish-like creature, is a great character, gross and funny simultaneously. All the shifts in the plot made the story harder to follow than it should've been. The end was somewhat abrupt and the resolution somewhat easy. Perhaps there's a sequel in the works that will explain Jael's special role in vanquishing the demons and continuing the Reclamation that is hinted at but never fully explicated in this novel.

This is a good read for paranormal fans, ages 13 & up. Language, sexual situations, and violence.

Scottish Mystery

Something Wicked: A Horatio Wilkes Mystery by Alan Gratz (NY: Dial, 2008).

Horatio lands in the middle of another dramatic murder mystery when he travels to a Scottish Highlands summer festival on a mountain in North Carolina with his friend Mac (whose girlfriend's name is....yes, Beth). While he resists wearing a kilt, Horatio can't help but investigate when Mac's grandfather, the founder of the festival, Duncan MacRae, is stabbed to death in the family tent. Duncan's son seems to be the culprit, but the evidence starts pointing in another direction, eerily in sync with the predictions of what Horatio had assumed was a fake psychic.

Danger, romance, bagpipes, and men in skirts--not to mention Shakespeare allusions--this mystery has it all! Great reading for tweens and teens, grades 7 & up. A bit of gore, sexual situations, language.

A Few Tips

Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend by Carrie Jones (2009)

Tip #1: The list motif is getting old in YA lit.

Tip #2: This much stuff couldn't possibly happen in the course of a single week.

Tip #3: And what happens requires complete suspension of disbelief, and not in a happy fantasy kind of way.

Tip #4 If you're going to move a plot this quickly, supply a neck brace.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (1999)

In this stunningly poignant epistolary novel, Charlie pours out all his fears and feelings about his first year of high school to an anonymous "friend," someone who apparently could have taken advantage of a sexual situation and did not. For Charlie, this is important, though the full significance does not become clear to the reader until the novel's end. Charlie seems timid and scared; he weeps often and abundantly, yet he is strong enough to push through all the tribulations and amazing firsts that high school brings--facing down bullies, the cafeteria quagmire, burgeoning sexuality, shifting family dynamics, making friends, facing new social situations. He's a quirky bundle of nerves, wound up tight, swerving erratically over this bumpy road that is adolescence. He's a survivor yet the vastness threatens to overwhelm him at every turn. The clarity of detail, the sheer terror, pervades every word, every sentence. Horror and comedy intermingle; strength of character prevails, yet this novel probes and punctures every adolescent cliche and leaves them all tattered.

Another one by E. Lockhart

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart, tells the story of geek-turned-beauty Frankie as she traverses her sophomore year at an exclusive (is there any other kind?) East Coast prep school. She's getting noticed now that she's curvaceous and lands a hot senior boyfriend on her first day back on campus, but she has qualms about the whole beauty v. substance dichotomy that the school seems to nurture. The plot thickens when she figures out that her beau belongs to the school's infamous secret society, the very one her father had been in oh-so-many-years-ago. Of course it's only for boys, yet Frankie not only locates the long-lost club history, but also figures out a way to trick the boys into doing her bidding in a series of amazing pranks by impersonating the co-president of the club through an ambiguous email address. He's the "alpha" dog of the pack and ignores her as much as possible. Her fabulous boyfriend never confides in her about the pranks or the secret club and Frankie grows increasingly dissatisfied with their relationship and the "Old Boy" patriarchy rampant at the school.

Yes, it's all fairly predictable, but Lockhart throws in some interesting Foucauldian theory about institutions (the Panopticon!), and Frankie herself is an endearing character coping with normal teen issues. Great read for teen girls. Very mild sexual content.