romance

A Love Story: Starring My Dead Best Friend

| Tasha

A Love Story: Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner

When Julia is killed in a car accident, it left a hole in Cass’ life that was impossible to fill.  When Julia’s drama friends discover that the secret project that Julia was working on is a musical with ninjas, they decide to perform it as a tribute to her.  But Cass doesn’t fit into the drama group without Julia there.  Especially not when Heather, a bully from middle school who publicly questioned Cass’ sexuality, is cast as the lead.  But Cass feels she must do something to fill that hole in her life Julia left behind, so she sets out on a solo bike trek over the summer from Chicago to California.  The book moves from the time following the bike trip when Cass returns to school and her travels.  It is about journeys, tributes, friendship, and love.  It is a book that fills holes, honors all kinds of love, and celebrates those of us who don’t quite fit in until we find the right people.

This book is not easy.  There are no simple solutions to a friend’s death, and Horner honors this friendship with a grand tribute.  From the beginning of the book, readers know that Cass does not complete her ride to California, but this makes the book even more powerful.  It becomes not about the accomplishment of the goal, but about the journey itself.  There are ugly truths in the book that readers are asked to understand and there are beautiful twists and turns along the way.  The book is a ride, a journey, a tribute and so it must be difficult and contain things that bring us to another place.

Horner’s writing is constantly showing and not telling.  Emotions are told through reactions, allowing them to be complex and much more honest.  She has created a heroine in Cass with such heart.  She is complicated, fascinating, and marvelous.  Horner also excels at backstory without burdening the reader.  Cass’ parents are Quakers and that influences her life tremendously.  Through the skill of Horner’s writing, that too is told as it comes up, revealing itself and its layers slowly.  This is much the same way that Cass’ sexuality is handled, honoring the process that Cass is going through to understand it herself.

Simply a magnificent book, get it on your shelves, into your hands and most of all into the hands of teens.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

Also reviewed by:

Mercury

| Tasha

Mercury by Hope Larson

A fascinating combination of history and fantasy, this graphic novel tells two parallel stories, both set in Nova Scotia.  Different generations of the same family, one modern and one from 1859, are played against one another.  Tara is the modern girl who is dealing with her family home burning to the ground.  Her mother has had to leave and find work elsewhere while Tara stays with a friend.  Tara has been homeschooled the last two years, and is returning to the school district that she used to attend.  She soon finds romance and magic.  Josey’s story takes place 150 years earlier.  Josey is the sheltered daughter of a farmer who is besotted when she finds herself the focus of a stranger’s attention.  The man has found gold on her father’s farm and soon the two of them enter into business together mining the gold.  Tara finds her own modern world connected to that of Josey in unexpected ways.

Larson has created an intriguing and winning book.  While the two stories are vaguely parallel in romance, they diverge quickly into very different stories.  The book is beautifully designed.  Readers will immediately understand that the historical story is bordered in black while the modern is bordered in white.  Larson’s art is welcoming and great fun to read.  She has created a story with the best of graphic novels, romance and fantasy woven seamlessly together.  The two heroines are very different people, but both romantics and both tied together in intriguing ways.  There were some characters that I wish had been more fully developed such as Tara’s mother and the family she is living with.  I think it would have made it easier to enter her world.

Highly recommended, this graphic novel is one that will easily cross borders between teens who enjoy graphic novels and those who read romance or historical fiction.  This is a great entry book into the world of graphic novels for new readers.  Appropriate for ages 13-15.

Reviewed from copy received from Atheneum.

Also reviewed by:

Illyria

| Tasha

Illyria by Elizabeth Hand

Maddy lives in a sprawling complex with her large extended family.  Descendants of a famous actress, the family members are dramatic, eccentric and interesting.  Maddy is wildly in love with her cousin Rogan.  As children they stole kisses under the porch, but it becomes more serious and complicated as they become teens.  During one of their secret trysts together in the attic, the two discover a tiny stage hidden behind the wallboards, complete with effects and lighting.  When Rogan and Maddy are both cast in their school’s performance of Twelfth Night the magic that is the two of them together is threatened. 

In a world of bloated, oversized teen novels, this short book is a powerful gem.  Hand has created a book that really shines with its strong setting of the family home where so much of the action takes place.  Hand’s descriptions bring the entire book to life as she paints a vivid picture for the reader.  What is amazing is that she has created a story with such depth in so few pages. 

The story is based strongly in reality, making the discovery of the tiny stage that much more special and strange.  The book is a beautiful realistic story with a strong thread of magic running through it.  This is helped by the romantic, beautiful writing that soars with detail. 

Some readers will find the two cousins in a romantic relationship to be confusing and startling.  Hand has woven this sort of deep feeling into the text in such a way that it feels very real, very honest.  This is not there for effect, rather it is an important, inherent part of their relationship and roles with one another.  Their closeness is deepened by their kinship.

A beautiful soaring novel in a tightly-written package, this book is sure to appeal to those who enjoy fantasy but also those readers looking for a great romance.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from copy received from Viking.

Also reviewed by:

Henry in Love

| Tasha

 

Henry in Love by Peter McCarty

How do you create a great romantic picture book?  Well, first it must include fresh-baked blueberry muffins.

Henry woke up to the smell of muffins baking and was given one to take to school for snack.  Henry thought Chloe was the loveliest girl in his class.  Whenever he looked at her the wind started to blow and he saw poppies, flowers and grass.  At recess, Henry decided to go up to Chloe even though his friends thought it was a bad idea to talk to a girl.  After Henry demonstrated his best somersault, Chloe showed him her perfect cartwheel.  Then a game of tag started and Henry chased after Chloe.  Back in class, the teacher rearranged their desks and guess who Henry got to sit right next to?  Just in time to share his blueberry muffin.  Now that’s true romance!

A large part of the reason this book is so successful is the art.  As you can see from the cover it is done in inks with touches of watercolor.  Color is used subtly here to great effect. Even the slightest color is magnified by the bare backgrounds.  The result is a book that is modern and charming.  McCarty includes small moments in the book that really make it a treat.  It made the book difficult to summarize because it is the collection of the small moments of Henry’s day that make this book such a delight.  Just as with color, words are used sparingly and offer just the right amount of story to carry the book forward.

A very sweet, honesty picture book, this story captures childhood crushes with dignity and appeal.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Ice

| Tasha

Ice by Sarah Beth Durst

Cassie has been told the story of the Polar Bear King and her mother making a deal with him for years.  When she matured, she realized it was a fairy tale to explain her mother’s death.  But when she sees a very large polar bear out on the Arctic ice and he walks through solid ice, she has to admit that the story may be true.  It becomes even more real when Bear begins talking with her and then takes her away to his ice castle past the North Pole.  Cassie has grown up surrounded by ice and bears in her father’s Arctic research facility, but nothing has prepared her for the magic that suddenly surrounds her.  Cassie is caught in her own fairy tale, where she has to brave true love, harsh weather, protective prisons, and frightening trolls before she understands what love and family are really about.

I am a fan of Durst’s previous novels and their twists on fairy tales.  Nothing in those however, prepared me for the wonder and magic of Ice.  Durst has taken my favorite fairy tale of all time, “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” and transformed it into a modern novel.  There have been other retellings of this story, but Durst has reached new heights.  Bear is immediately appealing, large and protective, and readers fall for him long before Cassie does.  Their relationship with its tumult and trust issues rings so clear and true. 

Durst’s largest accomplishment in this novel is its heroine, Cassie.  Her inner voice carries this novel as she struggles not only with Bear and the magic, but with real forces that would keep her docile.  Her bravery is amazing, but never off-putting.  She is definitely a modern heroine caught in an old-fashioned fairy tale, which makes the book even more marvelous. 

Durst’s story takes readers from the Arctic to the tundra to the boreal forest and back again in the arms of the wind.  Through it all, she creates settings that are vivid and tangible.  Bear’s ice castle comes to life in minute details and crystalline beauty.  The Arctic wilderness is frightening, white and barren.  The boreal forest is spectacular in its diversity. 

Highly recommended, this novel is a magnificent swirl of romance, ice crystals and warm fur.  Perfect to curl up with in front of a roaring fire.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copies received from publisher.  Copies will be placed in library collection.

Also reviewed by Bib-Laura-graphy and Laini Taylor.