Adult Book Club Pick: This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!
by Jonathan Evison
Algonquin Books
2015
304 pages
ISBN: 9781616202613

This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! is about 78 year old Harriet Chance and the small and big things she has faced in her life. Harriet, daughter of a prominent attorney, has all the trappings of a successful childhood. She lives a cultured life of country club tennis and debutante balls. Her father pushes her to study law--to follow in his footsteps. Perhaps if Harriet were born a few decades later, this may have happened. Poor Harriet, born too soon! Women still earning less than half a man's salary and certainly not able to complete law school, men chuckling behind their backs. Harriet finds herself trapped in the traditional role of wife and mother.

The novel is told by a sometimes annoying omniscient narrator. Through his or her(?) insight, Harriet's life is examined under a glaring microscope. Human beings are complicated and all humans have secrets. Maybe the truth becomes clouded over the years. Memories fade. Lies are told. If enough lies are told enough times, lies become the truth. Hopping around over seven decades of a woman's life is sometimes a jarring experience. Jonathan Evison must have planned it that way. However off-putting it is, it works. As Harriet's world comes undone, the decades change. Suddenly we are back with seven year old Harriet or teen Harriet waiting for her date.

Full of heart and compassion, full of woe and sorrow, full of unfinished business and untold secrets, this is one novel that will make you think. This story will resonate with many baby boomers. It is the story of America and past eras where hope was high, expectations soared, the economy was booming and America was still number one.

The story is told as a series of scenes--think back to television's "This Is Your Life." Evison's writing is incomparable but Harriet's story, although probably the story of many 78 year old widows, is weighty. This is life under scrutiny.

Recommended for book clubs. This is not necessarily a "feel good" book. Looking back at someone's past with all its broken promises and scattered dreams is taxing at times.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

High School Pick: Dead to You

Dead To You
by Lisa McMann
Simon Pulse
2012
243 pages

Watch the book trailer here

From the author of the Wake trilogy, this novel will captivate teen readers. It is the sad story of Ethan--a boy stolen from his family at age 7 who miraculously returns home at age 16--safe and sound.

The awkward moments when first seeing his parents to long and silent family dinners give Ethan panic attacks; he doesn't know how to act, who to trust, how to interact with a family--he's never had one before, at least not that he can remember. His parents try their best to make Ethan feel welcome but his presence is trying on the entire family. Since his disappearance, his parents have grieved and then finally accepted that their son was lost to them forever and they even planned a "replacement" child, little sister Gracie. Younger brother Blake acts jealous and angry--ignoring Ethan and even lashing out at him physically.

Ethan is trying to fit in, but he doesn't remember anything from his childhood. Why can't he remember his house? Or his neighbors? Why can't he remember the day he got into the car with those two guys? He always thought that Eleanor kidnapped him. Did she pay two men to grab a little boy for her?

As brother Blake uncovers clues to Ethan's past, Ethan finally begins to feel at home. The unexpected and tragic ending will take readers by storm. McMann continues to write a highly readable book with a tortured teen hero--there is no happy ending for Ethan.

Highly recommended grades 9-up. Language, mature situations. Child kidnapping, prostitution.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Chick Pick: Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Talented Pop Star

Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Talented Pop Star
by Rachel Renee Russell
Aladdin
2011
311 pages with illustrations

Witty, charming, and fun, the third installment of Dork Diaries will have tween girls clamoring for the book. Nikki J. Maxwell is still the likable girl next door: a little dorky, a little plain, a little untalented but what she lacks in talent she makes up in heart and she is blessed with two great BFFs in Chloe and Zoey. Nikki still crushes on Brandon, and still abhors Mackenzie Hollister, evil fashionista and mean girl, and still cringes whenever she thinks any of her classmates will find out that her father is an exterminator who drives around in an stinky old van with a giant cockroach on top of it!

Nikki is being coerced into performing in the school talent show as part of MacKenzie's act, but she has already promised her BFFs to be in their act. Should she let down her friends or should she spurn Mackenzie and await her wicked wrath?

Nikki steps up her plans when her scholarship is revoked and she has to raise money to stay in her costly private school. Hoping to win the talent show, she enters with a couple of fellow wall flowers and is later joined by Chloe, Zoey and Brandon! Mackenzie does her evil best to have the band disqualified but good always wins over evil.

Girls will love Nikki and her BFFs and crush over handsome yet shy Brandon. Clever cover, cute illustrations, and teen characters are spot-on! Funny asides and quirky writing. Laugh out loud antics like, "Girl Puh-leeeze...I said, doing one of those Tyra Banks neck roll thingies that I'd practiced in the mirror for hours!"

FTC Required Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my library. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this review.

Funny Fashionista Pick: Spoiled

Spoiled
by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
Poppy (Hachette Book Group)
2011
360 pages
ISBN: 978-0-316-09825-0

Funny, cocky, cock-sure (one author's last name is Cocks, for goodness sake), quirky, mean-spirited, and fashion-forward, Spoiled is a laugh-out-loud, in-your-face commentary of what it's like to grow up rich, spoiled and bitchy in Beverly Hills. Part "90210," part "Mean Girls," part "Pretty Little Liars" this novel will appeal to savvy readers with a passion for fashion and a penchant for naughty, haughty runway model ideals and diva behavior.

Brooke Berlin is the sixteen year old daughter of macho, masculine, and beautiful man-hunk Hollywood action movie star Brick Berlin. Brick has never met a camera, or a woman, he didn't like. His hazel eys, his brooding good looks, and his stone cold abs leave women fainting in his wake. Brooke hopes to use her father's celebrity to open her own doors. When she's out power shopping on Rodeo Drive--her favorite past-time--she manages to catch the eyes of the papparazzi, stealing the thunder from "one of the lesser Kardashians." (funny, right?)

Her life is sweet--being the pampered princess in a huge Hollywood mansion--the mansion so huge that their house "embarrassed mansions" nearby--armed with an assistant named after a creamy French cheese--Brie, and a best friend named after a peppery, fancy lettuce--Arugula, and able to spend unlimited amounts of cash and credit on fashion finds should make a girl happy, but Brooke longs for her father's undivided attention--she needs some serious "face time" with Poppa. Just once, she would love five minutes alone with her famous father--without interruptions from his agent, his publicist, his assistant, his assistant's assistant, his astrologist, his trainer, or any of the other minions who flock to his famous feet. Poor, spoiled Brooke remains a Paris Hilton wanna-be with serious daddy issues. Her mother escaped Hollywood years earlier without looking back and has no relationship at al with her only daughter.

Enter Molly. Molly arrives out of nowhere from Cairo Park, Indiana. Her mother Lauren has just died after battling cancer, and on her death bed, announces that Molly is the secret daughter of Brick Berlin, famous Hollywood movie star. They met when Lauren was a costume designer on one of Brick's films. His films are quirkily titled like "Tequila Mockingbird" where his character "rescued his fiancee from South American sex slavery." Molly has no other living relatives, and she is shipped off to Hollywood to meet her famous new father and her half-sister.

There is no way Brooke is going to share the spotlight with some hayseed from Indiana and no way she's going to share a precious moment with their father--HER father. Brooke begins a campaign to let Molly know just how unwanted her presence is.

Enter Shelby, spoiled daughter of the entertainment industry's seedy tabloid magazine Hey! She makes it her job to befriend Molly, ruin Brooke, and gather notoriety for her own celebrity reporting. Shelby's an evil schemer who craves drama and spreads gossip. She invents half-lies and rumors and has the two celebrity siblings soon fighting.

The Hollywood glamour set always has had their bizarre behavior--from throwing parties for their pets to naming their kids. Spaulding, for example, is the the daughter of a professional tennis player who sold the naming rights to his kid (Spaulding tennis balls). Molly--the "normal" mid-west girl says, "Good thing he wasn't in NASCAR...she would have been named Valvoline!"

This novel has it all--sister in-fighting, abandonment issues by a parent, absent mother figures, clique-ish high school behavior, severe cattiness, and finally a happy ending.

Spoiled was a gift to read--impossible to put down and tickled my funny bone. Girls will love the unforgettable characters of Brooke and Molly and laugh at the fashion and celebrity jokes, like Brooke's nerves "were as frayed as a pair of tights on Taylor Momsen." (I know, funny, right?)

Recommended grades 7-12. Younger girls may not "get" the puns and fashion jokes or the snarky comments about the Hollywood in-crowd.

No sex. One f-bomb but it is well-deserved. The authors write the fashion blog Go Fug Yourself--check it out--clever and catty.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not received monetary compensation for this review.

Tween Pick: Odd Girl In

Odd Girl In
by Jo Whittemore
Mix (Aladdin Mix)
2011
234 pages

Funny, snarky, laugh out loud punny (puns everywhere!), and wickedly entertaining, Odd Girl In is a surprise! I read this tween ya novel with wild abandon and laughed at the antics of tomboy Alex (Alexis) Evins and her twin brothers Parker and Nick.

When Alex accidentally sets fire to the neighbor's patio furniture, (she actually lit a bag of dog poop on fire--on the neighbor's porch, no less--in the hopes he would stomp it out, get dog poop all over his shoes, and "then maybe wave a wrinkly fist and yell Old People Gibberish"), she was hoping for a funny sight but instead was cited for a misdemeanor. It's the last straw for Alex's long suffering professor father. He has had enough of the twin's practical jokes and all the siblings' fighting, and he enrolls them in a special program for Champs!

The kids can't think of anything more degrading than a program to build their self-esteem, make them team players--and make them work together, instill pride and leadership skills, and allow them to practice athletic ability and making friends. Each of the Evins' children has to make progress or else Dad will send them to a private school the following school year.

Poor Alex! She really has no girl-y-ness about her. Growing up in a household full of testosterone and without a mother figure, she's hopelessly lame in make-up application, glitter penmanship, and fashionista know-how. Now she has to attend slumber parties and listen to girls moon over dreamy boys. She decides to make the best of it and takes a leadership roll when trying to explain the rules and basics of hockey to the Hockey Boosters--girls who joined the club because the boy hockey players are so cute!--not because the girls know anything remotely about hockey. They actually think a Zamboni is a sports car! ( for those of you who don't know, Zamboni is the brand name of a machine that smooths the ice on the rink surface).

Alex is far more entertaining than most tween protagonists! Her practical joker brothers remind one of the Weasley twins, Fred and George, in Harry Potter. Jo Whittemore has a wicked sense of fun, and I personally couldn't get enough of Alex!

A must-read for girls ages 11-15 and older if they like a spunky female character who is OVER THE TOP FUNNY!

Highly, highly recommended grades 4-8.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Between Here and Forever

Between Here and Forever
by Elizabeth Scott
Simon Pulse
2011
256 pages
Available May 24, 2011

Pitch perfect, poignant, and provocative, Between Here and Forever is the perfect novel for readers who like a sad/romantic/brooding story.

Abby has always lived in the shadow of older, brighter sister Tess. Tess, the golden child, worshipped by their parents and classmates alike. No boy can turn away from her charm. Now Tess lies in a hospital bed in a coma after an accident. Abby visits her daily, talking to her, singing to her, hoping for her to move, if only an eyelid.

With their perfect child lying in a coma, Abby's parents have a terrible time connecting with their younger child. This family is beyond dysfunctional. Abby deals with all her pent up anger and jealousy by trying to wake up Tess--not that she misses her, she doesn't miss her at all--but she doesn't want to forever be "the girl with a sister in a coma." And she doesn't want her parents spending their every waking hour worrying over Tess; doctors have told them that she'll never wake up but they keep hoping. Abby enlists the help of super-hot gift store guy Eli--they both try to wake Tess.

When a shattering secret is revealed, Abby sees the events of the past couple of years in clear detail. Family secrets can cause harm, pain, and tragedy.

Recommended for high school grades 9-12.
gender issues, same sex relationships

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Chick Pick

Karma Bites
by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas
Sandpiper (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), 2010
340 pages

Franny Flanders is having bad karma: her parents are newly divorced, her kid brothers fight all the time, her friends belong to different cliques and she has to walk the minefield at school to avoid angering either clique, and to top it all off, her hippie grandmother has moved in with them and is practicing white magic, yoga, and zen Buddhism. When not in a trace or drinking yak butter tea, Granny is communicating with unknown spirits like the time she came home from Africa and brought back an angry presence who tore up the back yard. Franny is mortified and cannot bear her grandmother meeting any of her friends.

When Franny uses magic from a mysterious box in Granny's closet, things start to unravel in a very bad way. Middle school has never been funnier. Franny is a typical middle school girl trying to fit in and make all her friends get along, so what's wrong with using a little magic here and there?

It's called the Butterfly Effect and it states that if one little thing happens in the universe like the flutter of a butterfly's wings or a panda turning over in his den, it can trigger a ton of reactions that change the universe forever.

Franny is going to need her granny's help to sort out this chaos. The clique system goes awry and Franny has her first grown-up dance.

A totally charming, fun read for girls; appropriate for grades 6-9.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this review.