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Lucid. Adrienne Stoltz and Ron Bass. 2012. Penguin. 288 pages.

Right now, I'm Maggie. 

Maggie enters the same dream world every single night. Every single night she lives a day in Sloane's life. Sloane is a teenager living in Connecticut with her Mom, Dad, and younger brother. (She also has an older brother who has gone away to college.) Is Sloane's life perfect? Not exactly. True, she has some great friends, true, there's a new boy whom she has a love/hate interest in. His name is James. But she's still mourning the loss of her best friend, Bill. In fact, when the reader first meets Sloane she has just been asked to speak at a memorial celebration. Sloane also has a secret--a big secret. Every single night, she dreams a day in Maggie's life. No one would mistake Maggie's life for the perfect life. Her dad is dead, her younger sister, Jade, is having some health problems, and her mom, Nicole, is more of a hindrance than a help. But her Manhattan life is certainly far removed from Connecticut. Maggie is an actress. She is always auditioning for new roles and following her dreams. She's met two men Andrew and Thomas. One tempts her with auditions, the other offers only honest companionship: a willingness to listen, to respond with sincerity and honesty. As Maggie falls for Andrew, Sloane falls for James...will either girl get her happily ever after?

This book is certainly memorable! And it's definitely better than I expected!!! I would definitely recommend it. It was a compelling read--impossible to put down. And I cared about both Sloane and Maggie. While Andrew was my favorite love interest, James was also a good choice...at least for Sloane. I loved how their relationship began with debating literature.

I would have to say that this is one of my favorite YA reads of the year.

Read Lucid

• If you like compelling YA Fiction
• If you like the premise of lucid dreaming and dream worlds
• If you were intrigued by the movie Inception
• If you like fiction that questions the nature of reality

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Gods and Warriors. Michelle Paver. 2012. Penguin. 320 pages.

The shaft of the arrow was black and fletched with crow feathers, but Hylas couldn't see the head because it was buried in his arm. 

 If you love action and adventure, you should really consider picking up Michelle Paver's new book, Gods and Warriors. This middle grade novel is set in ancient Greece during the Bronze Age. It stars a young boy, Hylas, who may or may not fulfill prophecy. But he isn't the only one readers will meet, two other (human) characters have a role to play: Telamon, the son of a chieftain and Hylas' best friend at the start of the novel, and Pirra, a young girl betrothed to Telamon against his wishes. The other star of this one is not human, she is a dolphin named Spirit.

I loved this one!!! I just loved it! I loved learning about Hylas, Telamon, and Pirra; but especially about Hylas and Pirra. It was very interesting to see this relationship development. For they are thrown together in desperation. Both needing the other to survive, both having strengths and weaknesses, both uncertain about so many things. It was interesting to see how circumstances helped them come to trust one another, to become friends despite their differences. I also loved Spirit, the dolphin, who has a very significant role in the novel!

Action, adventure, and drama!!! This one has it all. I'd definitely recommend it!

Read Gods and Warriors

• If you like action/adventure stories with light touches of fantasy and mythology
• If you like plot-driven stories with fast pacing
• If you are looking for a new series to begin

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Kepler's Dream. Juliet Bell. 2012. Penguin.  256 pages.

It was the middle of the night, and that's not a time when you want to be hearing strange noises. I don't care how brave you are. No one wants to be restless and almost-sleep, then rustled awake by a thudding overhead and the feeling that someone is trying to get into the room.

Ella, our heroine, is visiting a grandmother she's never met, her paternal grandmother. Her father, whom she barely knows, does not get along with his mother. But Ella has to spend the summer with someone since her mother will be undergoing treatment for her leukemia. (She'll be receiving a bone marrow transplant, I believe.) And her grandmother is her last option, her only option.
Ella's first impressions of her grandmother, of her grandmother's house, are priceless. But through the course of a summer, the eccentricity and quirks of her grandmother have become familiar and comfortable. And she's made other friends as well.

Kepler's Dream is about a dysfunctional family who has a rather unique opportunity to heal, to mend, to come together. Could Ella  help bring her father and grandmother together again? Perhaps. For Ella who has never really known her grandmother and does not really know her father, it's an unique opportunity, for she'll get a chance to get to know them, to get to love them, to make them a part of her family.

But Kepler's Dream is also a mystery. And Ella's curiosity and determination to solve the mystery, to learn WHO stole her grandmother's precious book, Kepler's Dream, is the beginning of that opportunity. This mystery is the catalyst for a family to come together again.

I liked this one. I definitely liked it. There were places I just loved it. I liked the narrative voice, how Ella's reading influences her as a narrator. I love her grandmother's bookish lifestyle, and how she's always getting book deliveries. I liked how these relationships, friendships, happened naturally--nothing forced, nothing instant, nothing magical. I loved getting to know Ella at a very vulnerable time in her life. The thing I absolutely LOVED about this one were Ella's letters to her mom.

Read Kepler's Dream

• If you like bookish heroines
• If you like children's mysteries
• If you like family books, plenty of drama but heart as well

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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My Extra Best Friend. Julie Bowe. 2012. Penguin. 224 pages.

 I'm Ida May and I could use a little light. That's because I'm digging around in my bedroom closet, trying to find my flashlight. If I had a flashlight, it would make looking for one a lot easier. 

This is Ida May's fifth adventure, and I still love and adore this character!!! I do, I just love seeing the world through Ida May's eyes. I love her observations and her insights. There are times, of course, when Ida May just doesn't get it, especially in My Extra Best Friend. But. I think this just makes her more realistic, more authentic. 

In My Extra Best Friend, Ida May is off to Meadowlark Camp with her classmates: Jenna, Brooke, Stacey, Randi, Meeka, Jolene, Rusty, Tom, Joey, and Quinn. The girls will all be staying in the same cabin, with the addition of one more camper, a girl named Liz. Could this Liz be the same Elizabeth or "Lizbutt" of days of old? You know, the Elizabeth who moved with her family to New Mexico and never, ever, ever, ever, ever wrote to Ida May no matter how many letters Ida May sent her. That Elizabeth.

While the novel is definitely about the full camping experience--arts and crafts, singing, swimming, hiking, etc. It is also a novel about trust, friendship, and accepting change and growth as a good thing. The lesson, of course, is a good one. Brooke and Ida and Liz all have something to learn it seems.

The Friends for Keeps Series:

My Last Best Friend
My New Best Friend
My Best Frenemy
My Forever Friends
My Extra Best Friend

Read My Extra Best Friend

• If you want to meet one of the best girl heroines ever, I just LOVE Ida May. 
• If you are a fan of the Friends for Keeps series by Julie Bowe
• If you are looking for great books to share with young readers; probably 8+ unless you've got an advanced reader ready for long chapter books.  

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Black Duck. Janet Taylor Lisle. 2006. Penguin. 252 pages.

A rumrunner had lived in town, one of the notorious outlaws who smuggled liquor during the days of Prohibition, that was the rumor. David Peterson heard he might still be around. Where? No one knew exactly. It was all so long ago. Well, who was he? This was equally vague. Someone said to ask at the general store across from the church. It would be a miracle if the man was still alive, David thought. He'd be over eighty. If he were anywhere, he'd probably be in a nursing home by now. But it turned out he wasn't. He still lived in town. Ruben Hart was his name. 

Yesterday, I reviewed Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years by Karen Blumenthal. Reading that fascinating nonfiction book on prohibition led me to indulge in a reread. Black Duck is a historical novel that I just LOVE!!! It is a novel with a framework structure.

Our young hero, David, wants to be a reporter or journalist. (He definitely does not want to limit himself to working for his father's landscaping/yard business.) He needs a good story, a BIG story. So he follows a lead and meets Ruben Hart. He's hoping to find out more about the Black Duck, a ship that was almost legendary--at least locally--during prohibition. It was one of many, many ships that carried bootleg liquor, landing and unloading secretly, of course. Throughout the novel there are newspapers clippings telling the fate of the Black Duck, of the three crew members who died that night it was apprehended by the Coast Guard. There were so many--especially when it first happened--that thought it was murder, that it was a set-up. That someone informed the Coast Guard telling them exactly, exactly where to find the Black Duck. That the Coast Guard shot without any warning, shot at an unarmed ship--or unarmed crew. David definitely feels there is a story to be told, to be uncovered. But will Ruben Hart share it with him?

Most of the novel is set in 1929 in a coastal Rhode Island town. Readers meet Ruben and his best friend Jeddy McKenzie on the day they discover a dead man on the beach. A well-dressed man that had been shot in the neck. They also discover a crate...among other things. They do report the discovery to the police--Jeddy's father is the Chief. But the police seem hesitant to investigate the crime. The boys aren't quite sure if this is the deputy's fault (Charlie Pope) or the Chief's fault. Or perhaps there is someone higher up who doesn't want this death, this murder, to become publicly known. The two are told to be quiet, to keep silent about what they saw. But some things can't be hushed up. The day becomes significant--at least in retrospect--because it was the day that Ruben first started keeping secrets from Jeddy, the day that Ruben first started doubting his friend's loyalty to him--to keeping secrets. Ruben starts to believe that Jeddy will report back to his father, to the police. So he chooses to keep what he's learned, what he's observed, to himself.

This is also a time when Ruben starts questioning everything, starts questioning what is right and what is wrong. If bootlegging is providing much-needed money to families, is it really that evil? These aren't criminals. These are hardworking men, of all ages, who have lived in poverty for so long, who have always struggled just to provide basic necessities for their families, so is it really that wrong for these men to help unload these illegal shipments? Isn't there a difference between murdering mobsters and the simple people caught up in this mess?

So Black Duck is the coming-of-age story of Ruben Hart AND it is the coming-of-age story of David Pe

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The Name of the Star. Maureen Johnson. 2011. Penguin. 384 pages.

The eyes of London were watching Claire Jenkins. She didn't notice them, of course. No one paid attention to the cameras. It was an accepted fact that London has one of the most extensive CCTV systems in the world. 

Considering the genre, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this one. I wouldn't necessarily say I loved it. But. If you judge a book based on your need to finish it, then it was well worth it!

The heroine of The Name of the Star is Rory, a teen girl from Louisiana, who decides to give an English boarding school a try when her parents get an offer to go to Bristol for a year to teach American law. Rory chooses a London boarding school. She never could have predicted--who would have?!--the danger she'll face in that particular neighborhood. For around the time she arrives, there are a series of murders in the style of Jack the Ripper. The murderer is obviously duplicating almost every little thing about the murders, and so the murders follow a certain pattern, a certain schedule. But that doesn't make the neighborhood any "safer." As Rory learns when she catches a glimpse of the killer.

So The Name of the Star isn't quite my genre. It's a paranormal horror novel! And I still am not a fan of the genre. I'm not. It's just not the way I like to spend my time. But this novel kept me reading.

Read The Name of the Star

• If you love ghost stories, OR I-can-speak-to-ghost stories
• If you love horror novels or thrillers. This one isn't so much a mystery--although I suppose it has mystery in it--but it's more of a chasing novel where the heroine is at risk of becoming a victim than a detective novel with a mystery to solve. I prefer mysteries.
• If you are interested in anything/everything Jack the Ripper
• If you like stories with a boarding school setting

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Crossed. Ally Condie. 2011. Penguin. 368 pages.

I'm standing in a river. It's blue. Dark blue. Reflecting the color of the evening sky.

I enjoyed Matched, the first book in the series. And I was ready for the sequel, more ready than my library was apparently. I had high expectations for Crossed, and they were more than met!!! While I liked Matched, really liked it in places--though not because of the romance, more of the writing style--I just loved Crossed that much more. I thought the world-building was even better than in the first book. I thought the expanded world-building--the novel follows our hero and heroine on a journey--was great! It was impossible to put this one down. It demanded to be read in a single setting.

So. Crossed was narrated by Ky and Cassia. These two are apart at the beginning of the novel, readers actually see Cassia follow in Ky's footsteps for the first third of the novel, but the two are eventually reunited...but they're never quite alone. For Crossed introduces new characters!!! Cassia has escaped with Indie, and Ky has escaped with Vick and Eli. Each character has a story, a story they're willing to share with others, and a story that they'd never share with others because it hurts too much. I liked seeing these people team up and work together, I did. The story was definitely suspenseful in many, many ways.

Read Crossed

• If you enjoyed Matched, the first in the series by Ally Condie
• If you enjoy dystopia, yes, it's dystopia with a bit of romance, but the world-building can be interesting too
• If you enjoy some action and suspense in your science fiction

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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A Million Suns (Across the Universe #2). Beth Revis. 2012. Penguin. 400 pages.

"This isn't going to be easy," I mutter, staring at the solid metal door that leads to the Engine Room on the Shipper Level of Godspeed.

A Million Suns is the sequel to Beth Revis' Across the Universe. It is narrated by Elder, the 'leader' of the space ship, Godspeed, and Amy, a young woman awakened too early from her frozen sleep. In this novel, Elder struggles with leading a ship; he discovers that it isn't easy to lead people who aren't drugged, that people have ideas of their own, that some people will do anything and everything to stir up trouble for him. Amy has struggles of her own. She misses her parents. She fears that the ship will never reach its destination and that she'll never see them again. She even thinks about disobeying Elder and awakening them before they arrive. But something always stops her from direct rebellion. She also struggles with something that almost happened in Across the Universe. She's still keeping that secret from Elder because she doesn't quite trust him not to abuse his power. And, as you might expect, she struggles with her feelings for Elder. Does she or doesn't she like him like that? Is she attracted to him because he's the only boy her own age who doesn't think she's a freak? Or would she still choose to be with him if there were dozens, hundreds, thousands of other guys to choose from?

A Million Suns is a compelling read. It definitely offers reader a mystery to solve. I recommend that you don't read too many reviews of this one or you might just guess too much. I happened to guess the big-big mystery of this one. I even guessed some of the smaller mysteries. And so it didn't offer me many surprises. I think if I'd not guessed, if everything had remained a mystery for a little bit longer, then I would have enjoyed this one just a little bit more.

While I'm not sure A Million Suns is a novel that will stay with me, it was a very good way to spend an afternoon. In some ways it reminded me of all the reasons I love to read science fiction. So even though I don't find this title the most amazing book I've ever read, I am glad to have read it.

Read A Million Suns

• If you're a fan of science fiction, particularly if you like novels set in space on colony ships
• If you're a fan of Across the Universe
• If you're looking for science fiction with a little romance and a lot of drama

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck. 1939. Penguin. 619 pages.

To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth. 

It is finished! After three or four false starts, after two library editions and two paperback editions, it is finished. If one word could sum up my experience with this one, it would be sluggish. Of course, I can think of a few other words to describe it. But I'll share just one more: bleak. (Or perhaps bleakity-bleak.)

To sum this one as quickly as possible: The Joad family, devastated by losses in Oklahoma, are forced to pack it all up and head to California where they find that life is just as hard if not harder than they could have ever imagined. There is no happy welcome awaiting them, they are viewed--at best--as mere animals. The only way out of the harsh ugly reality is death. And even death doesn't come easy. The end.

I'm not going to try to convince you that The Grapes of Wrath is a horrible book. I'm not going to try to convince you that The Grapes of Wrath is a wonderful book. I can--at best--only share with you why we're not a good match for one another.

The language. There are certain words that offend me each and every time they're used. It doesn't matter the circumstances. It doesn't matter who or where or why. The Grapes of Wrath uses a great many of these words. (Or should I say repetition of the same word.) Are the words realistic? Probably. But that doesn't change my reaction to those words.

I had big, big, big problems with the character of Jim Casy. This "former preacher" annoyed me every time he opened his mouth. Though annoy isn't quite the right word. I'm not sure offended is the right word either. Simply because people can't use the word offended without people judging them. It's just that his language is so crude, so vulgar. That his "story" is so vulgar--how every time he got worked up "in the spirit" preaching, he had to find sexual release with young women from his church (or audience or wherever). Yes, that was mostly in the past, and yes, this "sin" is what led him to eventually give up faith and religion. Casy, when we meet him, doesn't believe in God, doesn't believe in the church or religion, doesn't believe in prayer, doesn't believe in sin, doesn't believe in the concept of right or wrong, or heaven and hell. Casy doesn't believe in anything at all really. There are no answers, there will never be any answers. Suffer, suffer, suffer, why have hope at all that you will ever do anything but suffer. Any time Casy talked about matters of faith or matters of the heart or anything remotely connected to spirituality or religion or even morals and ethics, I just wanted to yell at him. It doesn't help that according to "experts" Jim Casy is a "Christ figure." I read this on Wikipedia and Spark Notes. There are almost no words for how that makes any sense whatsoever. How someone so foul, so crude, so vulgar, so given-over-to-sin, someone who doesn't believe ANYTHING at all, someone who has no hope, no love, no peace, whose only message is now is all we got, and now is ugly is a "Christ figure." In what way at all--does he resemble Christ? Now, I'm not saying that everyone should hate Jim Casy. I am saying that as a reader I could not stand him.

Another big issue I had with The Grapes of Wrath has to do with style. The narrative style of this one is a bit odd. You have chapters that are clearly narrated by members of the Joa

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No Passengers Beyond This Point. Gennifer Choldenko. 2011. Penguin. 256 pages.

My mom says worry is like a leaky faucet--every drip makes you imagine something bad on the way...trouble...trouble...trouble...do something...do something...do something. But when you're twelve and the only guy in the house, you're responsible for an awful lot. It isn't just the heavy lifting and taking out the garbage either. You've got to be aware.

India, Finn, and Mouse are three children on their way--by plane--to their Uncle Red's house. They're not going on vacation, this won't be a short stay. No, the three will be there to stay. Their mom has every intention of joining them when the school year is through, but for now, they'll need to stick together and take care of one another. This move is sudden and not-so-sudden. It's definitely a surprise to the three kids. To the mom? Well, she's been fighting to save her home from foreclosure for the past six months. And then the fight is over, and she's lost. Now she has to tell her kids they'll be going to stay with Uncle Red in Colorado, they'll be leaving the next day. No time to say goodbye to their friends. No time to pack up their belongings properly. No, one suitcase a piece is all they'll be taking with them. This move seems so crazy, so weird. Yet it's the sanest part of the book, perhaps?!

After the first fifty pages, well, No Passengers Beyond This Point reads like an episode of The Twilight Zone. For those that love realistic fiction--and only realistic fiction--this may be an unpleasant surprise. For those that love a bit of fantasy and mystery, well, this change may be quite welcomed. (Is it a difficult mystery to solve? I'm not a good judge of that. I certainly began putting the pieces together early on, BUT that doesn't mean it won't be suspenseful to kids. And even though I had a good idea on where this one was going, it didn't take the fun out of reading it.)

No Passengers Beyond This Point is narrated by Finn (middle child), India (oldest child), and Mouse (youngest child). And I don't always love appreciate it when authors do this. Multiple narrators can be a big disappointment at times. They can keep me from connecting with a book. They can keep me from getting to know any of the characters well enough. BUT. I didn't have a problem with it in No Passengers Beyond This Point. In fact, it was one of the novel's greatest strengths. Which narrator would I want to give up??? NONE OF THEM!!! I just loved and adored Mouse and her invisible friend, Bing. I loved seeing the world through her eyes. I loved her observations. And Finn, well, he was responsible--though worried--and was able to think things through without giving into panic. I definitely think he's a good brother for these two to have! And India, well, I might have struggled to like her at first. (Though I wouldn't say I see her exactly the same way Mouse does...) But her chapters--especially towards the end--are so INTENSE and compelling. And when it comes down to it, ALL the narrators are so important to the story itself.

So I definitely enjoyed No Passengers Beyond This Point. I loved the characters. I loved the family dynamics. I thought Choldenko did a great job with developing relationships between siblings. And, for me, the atmosphere, the setting--stran

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What Happened To Goodbye. Sarah Dessen. 2011. Penguin. 416 pages.

The table was sticky, there was a cloudy smudge on my water glass, and we'd been seated for ten minutes with no sign of a waitress. Still, I knew what my dad would say. By this point, it was part of the routine. 

I love Sarah Dessen. I do. I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her work. I love her characters, her stories, her writing. I love how easy it is to love her books. She makes it easy to love reading. There's just something wonderful about them. I've never once been disappointed. So it shouldn't really surprise anyone that I loved What Happened to Goodbye.

Mclean Sweet sometimes wishes things could be as simple as loving her dad and hating her mom. Since her parents have divorced, Mclean has had to reinvent herself again and again and again and again. Her dad has a job that requires him to move around a lot. He's been hired by a company to "fix" problem restaurants. (Think Kitchen Nightmares with less yelling!) Sometimes he's able to "save" the restaurant, and they move on to the next place, the next town or state. Sometimes he's not able to save a place--no matter how much time and energy he puts into a place--and they move on. In each town, Mclean gives herself a new name--a new personality, a new identity. Knowing that she can recreate herself into someone new--if only for a few months--gives her a sense of peace. Temporary peace, perhaps, but it helps her cope with what her life has become since the divorce. The divorce that she totally blames her mom for. I mean how could HER mom have an affair with the head coach of her dad's favorite basketball team? How could she become pregnant and leave them both behind? Why doesn't her mom get why she is so angry? Mclean feels she just doesn't belong in this new family with her half-siblings and her stepfather.

But she does find herself belonging here in this town, in this school, with her wonderfully strange friends, with her wonderfully strange neighbor, Dave. For the first time in a long time, Mclean can practice being honest--with herself, with her boyfriend, with her friends, with her dad, with her mom. Perhaps it's just as difficult for her to be honest with her parents as it is to be honest with herself. For in all her inventing, Mclean has lost pieces of herself. She's lost herself and buried her pain deep, deep inside. But it may just be time for Mclean to heal. In Lakeview, she may just find the support she needs.

I enjoyed this one. I liked Mclean. I liked her parents. I liked how complex these relationships are. How life can't be as simple as hating her mom and loving her dad. I liked how challenging these relationships are. I liked how we get Mclean's perspective--but not so blindly that readers can't see things from the other side. And it was great to see her relationship with her dad. How much she loves him and takes care of him. But also how he's there for her when she needs him. He's not perfect, but I do think he cares very much for his daughter. Her friends. I also liked them. Especially Deb and Dave. I love how eccentric yet believable her characters are! And I liked Dave as the love interest!

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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The book publishing industry is bracing itself for another scandal as one of the best-selling authors in recent years has been accused of fabricating parts of a popular memoir.

Greg Mortenson has been catapulted to celebrity since the 2006 publication of Three Cups of Tea, (Penguin Book Publishers) which he said was a non-fiction account of his travels in Pakistan. The book describes how in 1992, he got lost while descending from an attempt on K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, and was taken in by a group of villagers.

Mr Mortenson wrote that to repay that hospitality, he founded the Central Asia Institute, a non-profit foundation that builds schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Three Cups of Tea, which has sold more than 4m copies, was published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin. Penguin, like the Financial Times, is owned by Pearson.

On Friday, 60 Minutes, the CBS news programme, aired a segment that called into question the veracity of many of the stories central to the book. On Monday, author Jon Krakauer, who appeared in the 60 Minutes segment, released a digital booklet Three Cups of Deceit, which chronicles what he says are fabricated parts of Mr Mortenson’s books.

Viking said it would review the book and its contents with Mr Mortenson. “Greg Mortenson’s work as a humanitarian in Afghanistan and Pakistan has provided tens of thousands of children with an education. 60 Minutes is a serious news organisation and in the wake of their report, Viking plans to carefully review the materials with the author,” it said.

If the story is proved to be even partly fabricated, it would be another black eye for the book publishers industry: several works of non-fiction have been shown to be at least partly fictionalised in recent years. Other examples include James Frey’s, A Million Little Pieces published by Random House Book Publishers, that became the investigative subject of the smoking gun website exposing the supposedly non-fiction book as largely fictional.

The 60 Minutes report pointed to several passages that it says are exaggerated or fabricated. It suggested Mr Mortenson did not visit Korphe, the village he describes in the book, until a year after his descent from K2.

In statements to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, in his home town of Bozeman, Montana, Mr Mortenson acknowledged he had taken literary licence in parts of the story. “The time about our final days on K2 and ongoing journey to Korphe village and Skardu is a compressed version of events that took place in the fall of 1993.”

The 60 Minutes report also claimed that a group of Pakistani men who Mr Mortenson said were members of the Taliban who had kidnapped him, were in fact lawyers and other professionals, who were assigned to protect him.

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Matched. Ally Condie. 2010. Penguin. 369 pages.

Now that I've found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night? My wings aren't white or feathered; they're green, made of green silk, which shudders in the wind and bends when I move--first in a circle, then in a line, finally in a shape of my own invention. The black behind me doesn't worry me; neither do the stars ahead.

Cassia, the heroine of this dystopian YA novel, is on her way to her Match banquet. This is THE night where she will learn the identity of the man she'll spend the rest of her life with. It's also the day Cassia turns seventeen. Just one of many coincidences, perhaps, of Ally Condie's Matched.

For it is revealed that her match is her best friend, Xander. Usually, one's match is a complete stranger. The fact that she knows him--that she knows and loves him--well, it's a strange coincidence. But that's just the beginning. For when she looks on her microcard, a microcard that should be full of pictures and background information on her match--she catches a glimpse of another friend, Ky. For a moment, only a moment, it appears that Cassia has two matches. This kind of mistake should NEVER happen. And it's corrected by a visiting Official who tries her best to convince Cassia that it was a mistake, nothing more. Ky could never, ever, ever be her real match. Because he's not good enough to be anyone's match.

Any guesses which young man Cassia starts to fall in love with?

I enjoyed Matched. I wouldn't say that I loved it absolutely. But I enjoyed it. I found it entertaining and satisfying. I liked Cassia. I liked Ky. I liked Xander. I liked Cassia's family. Her brother, Bram, her father and mother, her grandfather. I was interested in the world Condie created. I liked the role poetry played in this one. How forbidden poems were used to help reveal some of the mysteries. It just worked for me.

Favorite quotes:

The almost-snow reminds me of a line from a poem we studied this year in Language and Literacy: "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." It is one of my favorites of all the Hundred Poems, the ones our Society chose to keep, back when they decided our culture was too cluttered. They created commissions to choose the hundred best of everything: Hundred Songs, Hundred Paintings, Hundred Stories, Hundred Poems. The rest were eliminated. Gone forever. For the best, the Society said, and everyone believed because it made sense. How can we appreciate anything fully when overwhelmed with too much? (29)

Every minute you spend with someone gives them a part of your life and takes part of theirs. (65)

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Rules of the Road. Joan Bauer. 1998/2005. Penguin. 208 pages.

I leaped onto the sliding ladder in the back room of Gladstone's Shoe Store of Chicago, gave it a shove, and glided fast toward the end of the floor to ceiling shelves of shoeboxes.

I love Rules of the Road. I think it is my favorite and best Joan Bauer book. (In case you haven't read her, you should! You really should! She's fabulous!) I read this one in pre-blog days, so this is my first opportunity to gush about how wonderful it is.

Jenna Boller, our heroine, has a part-time job selling shoes. And it's a job that she enjoys very much--especially on days when her drunk father doesn't show up at the store to embarrass her. So Jenna is quite surprised when Mrs. Gladstone, the owner of the Gladstone company, asks her to drive her across country to visit all her stores before the big meeting in August. Surprised because Jenna is relatively a new driver. Surprised because she could have hired anyone, confided in anyone. But these two have a way of bringing out the best in one another. And a wonderfully odd friendship begins. Together these two will cover many, many miles. They'll have many opportunities to discuss the meaning of life. (Not that they'd ever call it that, mind you!) Each woman has their own battle to fight. Mrs. Gladstone struggling to hold onto her company, fighting her greedy son and stockholders. Jenna struggling to deal with her life, her father. Does he have any place in her life? Should she work at forgiving him so she can move on with her life? Is the anger and anxiety worth it? How do you stop worrying though? How do you stop hating? How can you turn your feelings off and on? She has a dad-shaped hole in her life, and it's a hole that is hard to ignore...

I loved this one. I loved the characters. I loved the writing. I would definitely recommend it!

I thought of all the good drivers I'd ever seen, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what made them that way. They just got behind the wheel, drove, and didn't run into things. The not running into things was important. (25)

Opal couldn't cope with my dateless state and kept trying to fix me up with sub-par guys like Morris, her second cousin twice removed, who, believe me, you want to be removed from at least twice. (31)

My grandma always said that people who snored were sleeping with enthusiasm. I tried to remember this, but there's just so much enthusiasm a person can handle in close quarters. (49)

I learned great road truths that teenagers aren't always exposed to.
Never go into a restaurant with a sign that says GOOD EATS.
Never eat at a place called MOM'S, because it's a safe bet Mom's been dead for years and whoever's in the kitchen didn't have a working relationship with her.
If you see four or more pickups in front of a diner, chances are you'll get a good meal. (113-4)

"I thought people in Texas were laid back," I shouted as two mega-trucks thundered by.
"They are," Mrs. Gladstone said happily, "except on the road." (121)

My grandma always said that God made libraries so that people didn't have any excuse to be stupid. Close to everything a human being needed to know was somewhere in the library. There was plenty I needed to know. (142)

It's the little things, not just in selling, but in life that make the difference. The small moments when you can touch another person. Harry Bender was always looking for them and he found more than any person I'd ever met. (146)

2 Comments on Rules of the Road (YA), last added: 3/26/2011

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Alexis @ Reflections of a Bookaholic said, on 3/25/2011 4:31:00 PM

I love the quotes you included. This character and book sounds fantastic.

melissa @ 1lbr said, on 3/26/2011 8:20:00 AM

Oh, one of my favorites too! Makes me want to reread it. Great review.

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The Teacher's Funeral. Richard Peck. 2004. Penguin. 208 pages.


If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it. You know August. The corn is earring. The tomatoes are ripening on the vine. The clover's in full bloom. There's a little less evening now, and that's a warning. You want to live every day twice over because you'll be back in the jailhouse of school before the end of the month. Then our teacher, Miss Myrt Arbuckle, hauled off and died. It was like a miracle, though she must have been forty. You should have seen my kid brother's face. It looked like Lloyd was hearing the music of the spheres. Being ten that summer, he was even more willing to believe in miracles than I was. 

I love this book. I am CRAZY in love with this book. It is in my opinion one of those practically-perfect-in-every-ways books. It's a funny historical novel--set in 1904 in Indiana--and it has heart! (Though not *too* much sentiment! It is narrated by a fifteen year old boy after all!) So Russell Culver, our narrator, is thrilled when his teacher dies just days before school was to start. (Who could they ever find to replace her?!) But his joy is short lived, for the answer to that question is his very own sister. Now, he doesn't hate his sister. He's quite fond of her cooking--it being SO MUCH better than his aunt's cooking which they try to live on doing the school year when the sister is away from home. But as his teacher?! It's too unbelievable. It's just SO unfair!!!

The Teacher's Funeral is a funny novel set in rural Indiana at the turn of the century. It draws quite the picture of country life--both at home and school. We get to know each of the eight students in this one-room school house. (Russell, Lloyd, Charlie, Pearl, Glenn, Floyd, Lester, Little Britches). And, of course, we get to know their teacher, Tansy, too! It's just a charming book, a funny book. One of those rare books that I love completely. I wouldn't change a thing!

This was the night me and Lloyd always went to the crick and camped out. It was a sacred part of our year. After the Case Special came through, we always spent that night at the crick, and hung on till morning, no matter what. It was how we kissed the summer goodbye before the darkness of learning fell about us. (13)

"Who died?" I inquired.
"Take a guess," Charlie said. "Go ahead."
"Somebody we know?"
"You can believe that."
"Somebody old or young?"
"Old," Charlie said, "as the hills."
Lloyd was looking back and forth between us, clutching J.W. He was on the hook again, and I was getting there.
"Old as Old Man Lichtenberger?"
"Nobody's that old," Charlie said.
"Man or woman?"
"That'd be tellin' too much."
"Somebody we like?"
"Not hardly," Charlie said.
"Somebody who's been feeling poorly late?" I was wracking my brains.
Charlie shrugged his big shoulders. "She must of felt pretty poorly tonight. She died."
"So it's a woman!"
"More or less," Charlie said.
The truth burst over me. "You don't mean Miss Myrt Arbuckle!" (24)

Nobody would miss Miss Myrt, so Preacher Parr got them to miss the good old days when the winters were worse and the kids were better. At a funeral you want to miss someth

4 Comments on The Teacher's Funeral (MG), last added: 3/14/2011

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Shelley said, on 3/12/2011 3:27:00 PM

You've sold me on this one. I've read a couple of others by Peck but have never even heard of this one. It sounds like my kind of book!

Debi said, on 3/13/2011 6:03:00 AM

Oh my, this sounds utterly delightful! Thanks Becky--for introducing me to yet another book I'd never even heard of.

Laura H said, on 3/13/2011 7:53:00 AM

I listened to this one on CD last year. It made me laugh so hard. The reader did a great job. Great book.

brandyreneebruce said, on 3/13/2011 10:51:00 AM

Hi Becky! Great post. Can I recommend a novel for you? Check out my new novel Looks Like Love! I'd love to know your thoughts about it! :) Blessings!

http://www.amazon.com/Looks-Like-Love-Brandy-Bruce/dp/1449707017/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292465847&sr=8-1

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Close to Famous. Joan Bauer. 2011. Penguin. 240 pages.

The last place I thought I'd be when this day began is where I am, which is in a car. Mama's car to be exact, and she's driving headstrong through downtown Memphis with an Elvis impersonator on our tail. I know the Elvis; his name is Huck. 

Foster and her mom are on the run from an abusive boyfriend when the novel opens. They end up in Culpepper, West Virginia. At first Foster isn't sure of this new town, this new place. Small is small and the opportunities seem a bit limited. Foster has big dreams of being a baker, and in Memphis she'd had the opportunity to 'help' at a local bakery. And well, there are only three restaurants in town--an Arby's, a Pizza Hut, and a local place called Angry Wayne's. Her mom, a back-up singer, may manage to find a job at the local hardware store. But Culpepper doesn't seem to be a town with much promise. Then again, Foster doesn't appear to be a kid with much promise. Not until you know her, not until you've tasted one of her delicious cupcakes. Not until you find out about her incredible memory--she cooks everything by memory. And most of her recipes come from the Food Network.

Foster is dreaming of fame, dreaming of her own cooking show, while her neighbor Miss Charleena is recovering from fame. She's had it all. A big movie career in Hollywood, a marriage to a beautiful guy, but it left a sour taste in her mouth. Now she's hiding away in a small town at times dreaming of a big comeback and at other times too depressed to even want to leave her bedroom. Miss Charleena comes to care for Foster, discovers her secret, and is determined to help her young friend. Foster may just give Miss Charleena some unexpected help as well.

I liked this one. It was well written. The characters were wonderfully developed. The small town is given a chance to shine. It's a great little novel with a couple of great messages. It deals with economic struggles, abusive homes, and illiteracy, yet it does it in a natural way, for the most part. I'm not sure I completely believe the big showdown where cupcakes save the day. But there were so many things I liked about it, that it is easy for me to recommend.

"Waiting," he told me, "is a powerful thing. Most folks today just rush off to get something done. You learn to wait, my young friend. You learn to wait and listen and not be afraid of the quiet. Too much noise in this old world. On a battlefield when you're getting shot at, you don't have time to think things through. You've just got to do as you've been trained and follow your best instincts. It's here in the quiet waiting for a fish that you can fill up for when the tough times come."
I knew I'd heard something important. I wondered if he'd taken me fishing to tell me that. (181)

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Small Persons with Wings. Ellen Booraem. 2011. Penguin. 304 pages.


Last June, my parents jumped off a roof because of a pinky ring.

Small Persons With Wings is an interesting fantasy novel. It stars a young girl, Mellie Turpin, who is tired of being teased. Her nickname? Fairy Fat. It came about like this. In kindergarten, she told one of her classmates that she had a fairy living in her house. His name? Fidius. Those that didn't laugh, believed her. Until she didn't make good on her promise--to bring him for show and tell the next week. Months later, still "troubled" by the aftereffects of this social mess, the school counselor has a conference with her parents to talk about imaginary friends. Mellie never doubted that he was real until her parents called Fidius imaginary. She's been a skeptic ever since.

This overweight teen is still struggling with body issues, with social issues many years later. But. These problems are about to become trivial when her family moves to her grandfather's inn. For there Mellie discovers the truth. Fairies do exist. Fidius was real. And their new home doesn't just have a few fairies--it has a whole colony of fairies living in the basement. It seems her family has quite the legacy. Generations of secrets for one girl to uncover and explore. Mellie's "new" reality has dangers of its own. (Mellie may just end up a frog?!) But with it comes a chance for redemption...

I liked Small Persons With Wings. The story isn't flawless. It was a complex story, and it didn't always flow perfectly. The pacing was a little uneven at times. But it was enjoyable.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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My Forever Friends (Friends for Keeps #4) Julie Bowe. 2011. July 2011. Penguin. 224 pages.

I'm Ida May and I'm feeling a little squished. That's because I'm sitting on a piano bench between Jenna Drews and Brooke Morgan. I was saving half of the bench for my best friend, Stacey Merriweather, but Jenna budged in before Stacey could. Jenna is my sometimes friend. Then Brooke budged in on the other side of me. Brook is my sometimes-not friend.

The first three books in this series are: My Last Best Friend , My New Best Friend, and My Best Frenemy. Ida May is still one of seven girls in Mr. Crow's fourth grade class. Tension is still high among the girls--Jenna, Brooke, Stacey, Ida May, Randi, Meeka, and Jolene--since Brooke and Jenna's big, big fight. And poor Ida May is feeling the pressure most of all. For Brooke is clinging to Stacey more than ever. And Jenna, well, Jenna is always around. Jenna and Rachel have been coming over after school every day since their mom, Mrs. Drews, is having a very difficult pregnancy. And Ida May is becoming really good at getting along with both. She's comfortable with Jenna, and she's losing that with Stacey. It's not always easy for Ida May to accept the changes. There are still times when she thinks Jenna is WAY too bossy, too much of a know-it-all. But she's beginning to love her unconditionally which is super-sweet. How can I not love Ida May having a big heart? Ida May realizes that she may be the only one able to repair the broken friendships tearing her class apart.

I loved this one. I did. I am still loving Ida May and her friends and classmates. Bowe has brought this fourth-grade class to life. Each of the students has been developed--of course, some more than others. But even the boys have a little individuality, a little personality. I am loving Jenna too. I really felt for her in this one. I was so glad she found a champion in Ida May. Not that Jenna wants to admit she needs one. But still. You know I loved the characters. But I also LOVED the writing. Julie Bowe knows how to tell a good story. She definitely has a way with words. There was something special about this book.

There are things about Jenna I'd like to change. Her bossiness. The way she treats Rachel sometimes. Her grudge against Brooke. But there's one thing I wouldn't change. Jenna knows her talents and she isn't afraid to tell you. (37)

I think about Brooke. And Jenna. And how their talents fit together.
Jenna knows how to cook things up.
Brooke knows how to to add the sprinkles. (63)

"You can't unditch someone," I say to George. "All you can do is say you're sorry and hope they yank you back in." (128)

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Across the Universe. Beth Revis. 2011. January 2011. Penguin. 416 pages.

Daddy said, "Let mom go first."

I found Across the Universe a compelling read. It's narrated by Amy, a teen girl who was awakened fifty years too soon from her frozen sleep, and Elder, a teen guy, who was born to be a leader to an as-yet unborn generation of colonists on the Godspeed. He's being trained by Eldest, the leader of the space ship. The ship manages itself, but it is his job, his responsibility, to manage the people on the ship.

The novel opens with Amy. She's in a difficult position. Her parents are determined to be part of this colony ship. They're both "essential" to the mission. They've got the necessary skills, the needed skills, to plant a colony on an alien planet. True, they won't arrive for three hundred years, if everything goes according to plan. But then they'll have a new life. Amy has been given a choice, by her father, she can remain on Earth, stay with the rest of her family, stay with her boyfriend, and have a comfortable life--not a perfect life, not a problem-free life. But a chance to continue living life as she knows it. Or. She can be frozen like her parents. She can choose to take a chance on a new life, a challenging life, an uncertain life. She's scared, no doubt about it. Because there is no easy answer.

When readers first meet Elder, he's stumbled upon something that he's not quite ready for. This accident proves beneficial--for Eldest realizes that he's been failing at his job. He's not been taking his responsibilities seriously enough. He's ignored Elder for too long. And it's time for Elder to start learning many, many things. But he's not ready to tell his secrets--the ship's secrets--all at once. No, Elder will have to continue proving himself. But Elder has shown great potential.

One of the things Elder discovers is the storage room with all the frozen people. He NEVER knew that the ship carried these passengers. He always assumed that the feeders were the future colonists. (They are the workers on the ship.) His curiosity leads him to this room where he stumbles across a frozen Amy. But she won't be frozen for long...

Amy is just the first in a handful of attempts to tamper with the frozen passengers. Some they find in time, they're able to plug them back in before any damage is done. Others they don't find in time. Others die. It's all unsettling. Especially for Amy. For this "new" society is unreal, bizarre. She's surprised that this new world is mono-ethnic, animalistic, mindless. 

Together, Amy and Elder try to solve some of the great mysteries of the Godspeed.

There are no easy answers in this one. And I liked that. Decisions matter in this one. I found this book fascinating and compelling. It had danger and mystery. It had a little romance too. It's a complex world Beth Revis has created. And I enjoyed spending time in it. I found some elements quite clever. (Like the scene with the Gettysburg Address.)

Favorite lines:

I miss, more than the sound of my own beating heart, the sound of a ticking clock. Time passes, it must pass, but I have no more assurance of moving through time than I have that I am moving through space. In a way, I'm glad: this means perhaps 300 years and 364 days have passed, and tomorrow I will wake up. Sometimes after a cross-country meet or a long day at school, I'd fall into bed with all my clothes on and be out before I knew it. When I'd finally open my eyes, it would feel like I'd just shut them for a minute, but really, the whole rest of the day and half the night was gone. But. There were

3 Comments on Across the Universe (YA), last added: 2/15/2011

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Tinkerbell said, on 2/12/2011 2:08:00 PM

i want to read this one!

:)

kisses becky and have a nice weekend!

Carrie K. said, on 2/12/2011 4:19:00 PM

I just ordered this - so glad it's so good!

Kailana said, on 2/15/2011 11:17:00 AM

I am hoping to read this book eventually. Glad people are enjoying it!

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Five Flavors of Dumb. Antony John. 2010. [November 2010] Penguin. 352 pages.

For the record, I wasn't around the day they decided to become Dumb. If I'd been their manager back then I'd have pointed out that the name, while accurate, was not exactly smart. It just encouraged people to question the band's intelligence, maybe even their sanity. And the way I saw it, Dumb didn't have much of it. But they weren't in the mood to be reasoned with. They'd just won Seattle's annual Teen Battle of the Bands, and they were milking their fifteen minutes for all it was worth.

I loved this one. I just loved it. One of the reasons why I loved it so much was the narration. I loved our narrator, Piper. She's a (beautiful) girl who is accustomed to not being heard. Most people--if they notice her at all--notice her for the wrong reasons. Something that will be challenged through the course of the novel. Piper is practically daring people to take notice of her now. For this deaf girl is about to take on a big challenge: she's going to be a manager of a rock band. She's determined to make this band a real band--a band that earns money. But the band, for better or worse, seems to be clashing in all the wrong ways. (Original band members: Tash, Will, and Josh.) In impossible-to-ignore ways. It certainly doesn't help matters that two new band members have joined Dumb since it won the Teen Battle of the Bands (Ed, Kallie). Can Piper do the impossible? Can she be the brains of Dumb?

Another reason I loved Five Flavors of the Dumb was the richness of its characters, the depth of the relationships, particularly family relationships. Piper has complex relationships with her mother, her father, her younger brother, Finn, and her baby sister, Grace. Especially since Grace has just had her cochlear implant turned on. And the operation was paid for with Piper's college fund. So, you can imagine, some of the difficulties Piper is facing as the novel opens.

I also loved how surprising the novel was--for me. I found it warm and satisfying, in all the right places, as the relationships develop and the plot unfolds. But it's more than that. Yes, it's got heart and soul. But it's more than that. It's got humor. It's got drama.

Five Flavors of Dumb is a great coming-of-age story set in Seattle. I'm happy to recommend it!

Winner of the 2011 Schneider Family Teen Book Award.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Restoring Harmony. Joelle Anthony. 2010. May 2010. Penguin. 320 pages.

When the plane's engine took on a whining roar, my grip tightened on my fiddle case.

Molly McClure has led a good life, a sheltered life. Her family hasn't suffered terribly since the Collapse of 2031. They've lived well--or at least well enough--on a small farming island in Canada. Molly has heard stories about her American family--her grandparents--but she's about to meet them for the first time. Her parents are sending her away. Why? Well, her mom has heard--quite incompletely--that her mother has had a stroke. Is she dead or alive? We just don't know. Either way, Molly's grandfather might need her. And the truth is that they might just need him. He's a doctor and Molly's mom is pregnant. If all goes well, Molly should not be returning alone.

Restoring Harmony is about her journey, her experience, leaving the only life she's ever known. It's a story about growing up, being brave, and facing the unknown. What does Molly think of 'the real world'? What does she think of this 'new reality'? It's nice that readers see this collapsed world through her eyes--not as someone who has lived it for a decade--but as someone realizing for the first time, perhaps, how lucky she is. Most people are struggling just to provide the basic necessities--food, shelter, etc. Not everyone Molly meets is struggling, however. There is one mystery guy--just call him Spill--who seems to have all the right connections. And since he's fond of "Handsome Molly" her luck may just continue during her trip. But. She may never be the same...

I really enjoyed Restoring Harmony. I'm not sure that I LOVED it. (The last two sentences didn't quite work for me.) But I really enjoyed it. I liked Molly. But I loved Spill. It has its dark, dangerous moments that make it interesting.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Faithful. Janet Fox. 2010. Penguin. 336 pages.

The trail was too crowded for a hard ride. Too groomed, too manicured. I wished I could fly, could gallop away from my raging confusion, but I couldn't give Ghost my crop and set him off at a canter. I urged him into a fast trot instead and even then I saw it in the faces we passed: the raised eyebrows, the surprise, the disapproval. Disapproval draped over me like a funeral crepe.

Maggie Bennet, our heroine, is miserable. She's miserable in Newport where our story begins. She's miserable on her journey west with her father. She's miserable in Yellowstone where her journey ends. For this "surprise" vacation brings with it devastating news: there will be no going back. For her father is ruined. The money is gone. Their home, their belongings, their horses--all sold. Why is her father ruined? Well, he's not gotten over his wife's scandalous life and death. The truth is neither has Maggie. Both harbor hope that she is alive--somewhere. It is this hopeful little lie that makes Maggie agree to the trip West in the first place. But. Yellowstone doesn't bring Maggie's mother back to her. It does hold a secret or two about her mother's past though...

Maggie is on a journey of self-discovery. As she explores her new surroundings, she begins to contemplate her life in a new way. She considers that perhaps some things are more important than money, than social standing, than having the best of everything. She realizes that maybe happiness can't be bought. Maybe love is better than money.

What lessons can Maggie learn from her mother's past? Can she make peace with her troubled mother? Can she finally come to understand her at last?

Faithful is historical fiction; it's set in 1904.

I liked Faithful. But Maggie wasn't always the easiest heroine to like. A bit selfish. A bit spoiled. At least in the beginning. Of course, if she didn't have some flaws, she wouldn't be believable. It was easy to sympathize with her--in many ways. With her father, suitor, and grandfather all trying to "manage" her life for her. With everyone trying to have a say as to how she should live her life. It's easy to see how frustrating that could be!

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Leaving Gee's Bend. Irene Latham. 2010. Penguin. 240 pages.

Mama pulled a chicken egg from behind the azalea bush in our front yard and narrowed her eyes. "Ludelphia Bennett! You go back in there and get your eye patch."

Historical fiction. Set in Gee's Bend, Alabama. 1932.

Ludelphia's mother is dying, and there's nothing she can do about it. That's what everyone says. But Ludelphia isn't convinced. She thinks that if she can just get a doctor--a real doctor--to come and see her mother, there might be a chance. True, Ludelphia has never left Gee's Bend, has never been to Camden. But. If there's a chance that someone could help her--no matter how small--she's got to brave it. It's scary, no doubt about it, because it isn't easy to leave Gee's Bend. It requires a ferry. Which may not be a big deal...if you're not in a hurry, if the ferry man can be found, if there hasn't been a big storm upsetting the river, if you know exactly where you're going. Ludelphia will have to brave more than just the river...as she embarks on this journey. A journey that proves physically and emotionally demanding.

I liked this one.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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No Will But His. A Novel of Kathryn Howard. Sarah A. Hoyt. 2010. April 2010. Penguin. 352 pages.

Kathryn Howard was the young and unfortunate fifth wife of Henry VIII. I was familiar enough with her story--my favorite account being a novel by Alisa Libby--The King's Rose. But reading about the Tudors--Henry's wives, his children, etc.--is one of my guilty pleasures. So when I saw this one at the library, I knew I had to read it.

Did this young teenager love the King? respect the King? Was she urged into this marriage by her family? Or did she have some ambition of her own? Did she want to be Queen so much that she was willing to risk everything? Was she in love with another man when she married the King? Or did love come later? come too late?

Kathryn was not perfect, was not innocent, was not perfectly innocent. But at one time the King thought she was. And when he learned about the Queen's past, well, it turned ugly. I did like the way this story unfolds for the reader.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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My Best Frenemy. Julie Bowe. 2010. May 2010. Penguin. 240 pages.

I'm Ida May and you probably think that I'm skipping school, because it's 9:00 on a Wednesday morning and I'm not there.

This is the third book in Julie Bowe's Friends for Keeps series. (The first two are My Last Best Friend and My New Best Friend.)

In this book, Ida May is facing some new challenges. As kids are returning from winter vacation, Ida May is finding some people have changed a little too much. Her best friend, Stacey, isn't acting much like a best friend. (And it seems that something big has happened over the break to separate Jenna and Brooke.) Some of these changes (like eye shadow) have been banned from the classroom. But others may be banned a little too late. Like the game of Truth and Dare. When daring becomes the "it" thing, it means one thing for Ida May and her friends: trouble.

I loved this one. I did. I just love, love, loved it. I really enjoyed the first one. And I did love the second one. It was such a great book. But this one really showed me just how great this series is. I love the characters. I love the stories. I love how these relationships are developing. I love the writing too. I love Ida May. She makes such a great narrator. She's so believable! (I would so want to be her friend, her best friend, you know, if she were real and I was a kid again.)


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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