Category: Books

Book Review | My Best Everything by Sarah Tomp

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

My Best Everything by Sarah Tomp

Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on March 3, 2015

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Pages: 400

Format: eARC

Source: NetGalley

Goodreads: ★★★★


An Appalachian summer walks the line between toxic and intoxicating in this debut novel about first loves, broken hearts, and moonshine.

 
Luisa “Lulu” Mendez has just finished her final year of high school in a small Virginia town, determined to move on and leave her job at the local junkyard behind. So when her father loses her college tuition money, Lulu needs a new ticket out.
 
Desperate for funds, she cooks up the (illegal) plan to make and sell moonshine with her friends. Quickly realizing they’re out of their depth, they turn to Mason, a local boy who’s always seemed like a dead end. As Mason guides Lulu through the secret world of moonshine, it looks like her plan might actually work. But can she leave town before she loses everything?
 
My Best Everything is Lulu’s letter to Mason–but is it a love letter, an apology, or a good-bye?
REVIEW

When I received an email from NetGalley describing My Best Everything as a debut novel for fans of Rainbow Rowell, I knew I wanted to pick it up. The plot summary really intrigued me – how could a girl who worked so hard to stay on the straight and narrow suddenly put her morals aside and begin an illegal business selling moonshine? I had to know how this story panned out.

The writing style of My Best Everything is quite unique. Our main character Lulu is writing a letter to Mason, the love interest in the story. Thus, readers are placed into the role of Mason, and whenever Lulu speaks to “you” she is speaking to Mason. This style was a little difficult to get into, since I’m not used to playing the role of a teenage boy, but once I settled into it I really liked the flow and rhythm of the writing. In addition, this format added a lot of mystery to the story, because I had no idea why Lulu was writing to Mason, and had to keep reading to find out.

Moreover, I really enjoyed the characters in My Best Everything. Each character has a well-developed story, even if he or she is not in the spotlight. For instance, Lulu’s best friend Roni faces some difficult challenges, and grows substantially throughout the novel. I really liked this attention to detail, and I thought the smaller plotlines added a lot of depth to the book.

There are, however, some things I did not like about My Best Everything. First, the pacing in the novel was off for me. The first 75% of the story moved very slowly. I was never bored, but I did stop and think to myself, “Wow, nothing has really happened yet!” at several points in my reading. The last quarter of the book is definitely rushed, and I would have preferred a more balanced pace. A lot of information was dumped on the reader right at the end, and while I did like the ending, the information dump did take away some credibility for me.

Similarly, I did not like the lack of consequences for Lulu in this story. I will be vague in this criticism as to not spoil the book, but Lulu is constantly breaking the law and finding herself in dangerous situations, yet for some reason she gets away with it. Her parents do a terrible job of supporting her, and even the other adults in her life, like her boss and local priest, do not keep tabs on Lulu or provide guidance for her. The lack of consequences for Lulu’s actions was really aggravating for me, and definitely took away some of the believability in the story.

All in all, I gave My Best Everything a four star rating because I thought the writing was very well done and overall enjoyed the story. While there are a few aspects with the story that I wish were different, My Best Everything is still a great young adult contemporary, and a solid debut novel for author Sarah Tomp. I look forward to seeing what she comes out with in the future, as I know her strong writing skills will lead to even better books.

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Book Review | Inherit Midnight by Kate Kae Meyers

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Inherit Midnight by Kate Kae Meyers

Published by Bloomsbury USA Childrens on February 10, 2015

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Romance

Pages: 400

Format: eARC

Source: NetGalley

Goodreads: ★★★★


Avery VanDemere says she’s lived her whole life in prisons—-one is a mansion, the others are private schools—-but prisons, still. That’s why, during the last couple of years, she’s perfected the ability of learning how to escape. On the brink of finally freeing herself from a hated boarding school, she is unexpectedly returned home and thrust in the middle of a competition. Her grandmother, the family matriarch, is now determined to discover the most worthy VanDemere to be named sole inheritor. With the help of Riley Tate, the handsome son of her grandmother’s lawyer, Avery sets out to do much more than prove she should inherit the massive family wealth. She has a secret mission of her own, and that’s to discover the truth about what really happened to the mother she never knew. Along the way she must pass difficult and sometimes perilous challenges, avoid treacherous relatives, and sort out her growing feelings for Riley. She’ll have to act quickly, though; the pressure is on and with each challenge, her competitors are more desperate to win—and to them that means getting rid of Avery.

REVIEW

I was drawn to read Inherit Midnight as soon as I heard it’s about a rich family competing against one another in a race around the world to inherit their grandmother’s estate. How awesome does that sound?! I love movies such as National Treasure, and this story is along the same vein. I absolutely loved the fast-paced adventure in this novel, and had a very difficult time putting it down. However, there are a few things I want to discuss.

First, the romance in Inherit Midnight is extremely cringeworthy and one of the worst cases of instalove I’ve experienced. I thought it was interesting that the author admits to the instalove, but that didn’t justify it. Instead, I felt extremely uncomfortable with the dialogue between Avery and Riley, and couldn’t get over how “in love” they were after just a few weeks of knowing one another. In fact, I would have enjoyed Inherit Midnight much more if the romance was put aside. I wanted to focus on the family competition, and not on the angsty teenage love.

Moreover, there were a few small details in Inherit Midnight that annoyed me. For example, the chapter titles were unnecessary and distracting. I’m not sure why they were included at all. In addition, I was a bit unnerved by how the lawyers were written in this story. As a law student, I didn’t like the portrayal of the lawyers and their behaviors, but I’m one of the few people who would actually pick up on that. Finally, the ending of the book was really unbelievable, but I cannot say more without spoiling you.

Putting those critiques aside, I really enjoyed Inherit Midnight. I loved following Avery as she and her family were tasked with the different challenges, all while traveling around the world and learning about their family history. The action never wavered, and once the competition began I didn’t want to stop reading. I also loved the character development in this book. Avery learns a lot about her family in Inherit Midnight, both her ancestors and those she’s competing against. The competition really showed each character’s true light, and Avery learns who she can trust and who she can’t.

I also really liked how the author included some subplots in the book, but I won’t get much into those because they are spoiler-filled. I will say that I predicted a huge plot twist right from the beginning, but I was excited to find out I was right towards the end. Because this particular twist was a subplot and not the main story, it didn’t detract from the overall book when I was able to predict the outcome. I also really loved the last scene of the book. It was sweet and touching, and filled me with hope for Avery’s future.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience of Inherit Midnight. In reality, this book probably deserves a three star rating because of the instalove and cringeworthy dialogue, but because it was so action-packed and exciting, I gave it a four star rating. I highly recommend Inherit Midnight if you love The Amazing Race or the National Treasure movies, or if you are looking to break into the thriller genre. Inherit Midnight is a ton of fun!

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Book Review | Bunheads by Sophie Flack

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Bunheads by Sophie Flack

Published by Poppy on October 10, 2011

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary

Pages: 294

Format: Hardcover

Source: BookMooch

Goodreads: ★★★★1/2


As a dancer with the ultra-prestigious Manhattan Ballet Company, nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward juggles intense rehearsals, dazzling performances and complicated backstage relationships. Up until now, Hannah has happily devoted her entire life to ballet.

But when she meets a handsome musician named Jacob, Hannah’s universe begins to change, and she must decide if she wants to compete against the other “bunheads” in the company for a star soloist spot or strike out on her own in the real world. Does she dare give up the gilded confines of the ballet for the freedoms of everyday life? 

REVIEW

After reading a few disturbing books at the end of February, I needed to curl up with something that I knew I’d love. I recently received Bunheads by Sophie Flack on BookMooch, a book trading website. I’ve heard mixed reviews of this young adult novel, but because I was a dancer growing up I was really interested in reading a book featuring a ballerina. I definitely picked up Bunheads at the perfect time – I found it a quick and comforting read.

Bunheads tells the story of Hannah Ward, a nineteen-year-old in the Manhattan Ballet Company’s corps de ballet. The book is written in Hannah’s first-person perspective, and is separated into the three seasons the ballet performs: fall, winter, and spring. Readers follow Hannah as she faces a multitude of struggles in her young life. Hannah wants more than anything to be promoted to a soloist in the company, but receiving that position requires a strict diet and workout schedule, and forces her to compete against her closet friends. At the same time, Hannah wants desperately to be a normal teenager, but ballet dancers in the Manhattan Ballet Company rarely leave the confines of the theatre.

I really enjoyed Hannah’s story, and connected with her in many ways. Even though I am not a professional dancer, I understand how it feels to move to New York City and try to follow your dreams when you are young and alone. Just like Hannah, I struggle with balancing my career with my personal life, and I really admired how Hannah handled her situation.

Bunheads does feature a love triangle, but I think it worked really well with this story. It wasn’t overdone, and it wasn’t dramatic. Instead, it was quite realistic, and the conflict brought an interesting twist to the story. I only mention the love triangle in my review because I know that is a key buzzword for some readers when deciding whether or not to pick up a book.

The only criticisms I have with Bunheads are very small indeed. First, Flack uses a multitude of ballet terms throughout the novel. Because I took ballet for several years, I had no problem pronouncing or understanding the different dance positions and movements. However, readers with no dance background will probably find these terms frustrating, so it would be very helpful to include a glossary in the back of the book with the proper pronunciations, translation from French to English, and a short description of what the step is.

Furthermore, I found the pacing in Bunheads to be a little confusing at times. Even though the story was separated by season, I found that time moved much quicker that I would have expected. For instance, if a scene takes place in the book, the next scene could be either the next day, or the next week, or even a few weeks down the road. The timing between chapters was not consistent, and I would have liked more markers so I could follow where I was. However, this is really nitpicking, and it really did not detract much from the story at all.

Overall, I really loved Bunheads and highly recommend it to anyone who was a dancer or who is interesting in dancing. The author is a retired ballerina herself, so I loved the authenticity in the story. I learned so much about what it takes to be a professional dancer, but at the same time I connected to this book on a personal level. I’m really impressed with Flack’s ability to make Hannah’s story my story even though we lead very different lives. I will definitely be rereading Bunheads at some point in the future, and I anxiously await Flack’s next book, whatever it may be!

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