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Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys) by Amy Spalding. Poppy. 2015. Reviewed from ARC.

The Plot: Riley and Reid walk in on our their band mates Lucy and Nathan -- to their surprise, Lucy and Nathan are together. Together-together.

Riley is stunned, especially because Lucy is her best friend and Lucy never said a word. Riley and Reid both resolve to pursue love (and kissing and maybe even sex), and to share each detail, and to help each other out.

The top of Riley's list is her crush, Ted Callahan; Reid's is Jane.

How successful is their plan? Well, there will be kissing. Of Ted Callahan, and other guys.

The Good: This is primarily Riley's story, but because Riley and Reid share notes and progress reports and suggestions in a Passenger Manifest journal, and part of that is written by Reid, it's both their stories.

Kissing Ted Callahan is about Riley shaking herself into action. Oh, she's hardly passive. Her goal is rock star, so her time has been taken up with the band. And her best friend is Lucy, and she's friends with Reid and Nathan, but she's been satisfied, kind of, with that.

Riley isn't satisfied anymore. And confiding in Reid, instead of her usual Lucy, helps push her to do things like offer Ted Callahan a ride home. Or kiss Garrick. Or call the number of the cute boy she met at the CD store. Riley goes from zero love interests to three. Kissing Ted Callahan is about Riley (and Reid) navigating teen age dating, figuring out the difference between like and love and lust and love, wondering just what is right to tell someone if there isn't any real commitment yet.

Reid's story in some ways mirrors Riley's The first girl he pursues turns out to already have a boyfriend, and Riley doesn't really make the connection to her own situation. The next girl is -- well, it's a bit funny, because Reid makes a list of potential girls. Ones who talk to him, ones he likes, who has potential? Unlike Riley, he's not acting on a crush. It's more that he wants someone, and there is something very sweet and likable in how he keeps himself open to any possibility rather than requiring a crush first. It's also very honorable that he pursues a girl he likes being with, ignoring that his friends don't really like her.

At one point, rather late in the story, their Passenger Manifest goes missing and Riley and Reid have to deal with the consequences. For Riley, that ends up being the consequences of not having conversations and not talking. Kissing and sex may create a connection but it doesn't replace talking. Yes, there is a sex scene,  butwhile Riley may be kissing three boys there is only one that she really likes. No, I won't say who.

What's nice about the emphasis on communication is that it is clear from the beginning that Riley's failure at spoken honesty, and desire to not confront, isn't something that just happens with boys. Remember Lucy? Part of what drives the whole book is Riley's continuing inability to talk with her best friend, Lucy. Part of Riley's growth is realizing she has to have the tough conversations, whether it's about the status of a friendship or of a relationship.

I also like how this explores attraction and relationships (both friendship and more), and that Riley (and Tom and Garrick and Milo) is not just about who she is dating or kissing but is about creating real friendships and how those friendships are made. Lucy, Riley, and Reid have known each other since kindergarten and those types of friendships sometimes means someone has a hard time making new friends -- they don't have the skills. Riley is developing those skills, though admittedly mainly because she is seeking a boy. And mainly because she assumes that Lucy's changed relationship with Nathan means that Lucy's friendship with Riley is different.

Finally! It's also about a band, and I loved how being part of the band is used for the story, from being what ties Riley and her friends together, to her passions and interests, and also the time it takes outside of school. Their dedication is clear.

One final thing: this may be a spoiler, so stop reading if any type of spoiler bothers you. This is not the type of book where Riley looks at her good friend Reid and sees him in a different light while he has an unrequited crush. This is about two people who are friends, whose friendship grows stronger but whose friendship remains a friendship.




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© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

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Wildlife by Fiona Wood. Poppy, an imprint of Little, Brown. 2014. Reviewed from ARC.

The Plot: It's time for the "dreaded term" that is an "outdoor education camp." Nine weeks away from home, in the middle of nowhere, just you and some classmates and teachers.

Sib -- Sybilla Queen, 16 -- will be going. It's both dreaded and looked forward to, and she'll be going with friends and teens she's known her whole life. And all that time away from home! Things aren't quite what she expects, though, when she starts a romance with popular Ben Capaldi and her best friend Holly veers between jealous and supporting.

Lou, also 16, is new to the school and the group. She stands out, not just for being new, but for also not caring if she makes friends or enemies. Instead she sits back and observes. But if she's not willing to let people into her life, can she really tell others about how they're living theirs?

The Good: Wildlife - first, for the record, every year there is one book whose name I just repeatedly get wrong. This year, whenever I say Wildfire, know I mean Wildlife.

Wildlilfe alternates between two stories: Sib and Lou. Sib's story is about the girl who before school starts gets her braces off and has her acne clear up -- you get the idea. The cosmetic changes are even more amped up, because she posed for her aunt's advertising campaign. A glammed up version of Sib is what introduces her classmates to the "new" Sib -- except it's still the same old Sib, inside.

The New Sib now has a new boyfriend, Ben, and she is both flattered and scared by that. Yes, she likes him, but it's her first real boyfriend and she's just not sure what she wants or how she wants to be. Her best friend, Holly, is there, always being supportive and telling Sib the way she should be treating Ben.

Here is Sib describing Holly: "Maybe I need to explain that Holly's mean is not really meant to be mean -- it's just Holly! And you get used to it!." The reader doesn't need Lou seeing the Sib/Holly friendship to realize the relationship is toxic, and unhealthy, and Sib has no idea that Holly is that mean.

Lou's boyfriend died. It's probably best to get it out there, up front. She is still grieving and isolated, keeping the world at arm's length. Her moms think that the "outdoor education campus", nine weeks in the "wilderness," will somehow help. (While Lou hasn't attended the school before, one of her mothers went as a teen.) Lou's story is one of grief and loss and recovery, and putting together ones life. She's slowly drawn into the world she finds herself in, not through the other girls in her cabin -- Holly has marked her as an enemy, an outsider -- but through Michael, Sib's other best friend.

This is not a book where Lou and Michael fall in love, or where Lou finds new love. No, it respects Lou's loss and the time, the long amount of time, it takes when a loved one dies. What Michael and Lou offer each other is more important: friendship and acceptance. Lou needs that, even if she won't admit it, and Michael needs it, because he has to go through the pain of seeing the person he loves -- Sib -- happy with someone else.

This isn't a book about Sib and Ben falling in love. Sib and Ben's relationship is important, and I loved how Sib sorted out all her own complicated feelings about Ben. She's attracted to him, she wants a relationship, but she's also not quite sure about him or herself. Ben's a decent enough guy, but he's a teenaged boy. He doesn't pursue Sib until after she's glammed up. He and Sib are put together in a heightened time and place, the intensity and isolation of the wilderness experience. Out in the real world, would they have anything in common? And does that matter? One thing I love about Sib is that, when it comes to Ben, part of Sib realizes all this. But part of her is also young and new to relationships so she is unsure just what she wants from Ben and how to proceed, both emotionally and physically. So Wildlife is about their relationship, yes, but Wildlife is about a more important relationship.

Wildlife is a book about the friendship between Holly and Sib. Sib is in some ways a passive girl. It's not the type of passive of someone who doesn't know what they want; it's the passive of someone who is content with what they have. So content that it's not that she lacks strong feelings about things, but that she doesn't care so let Holly take the lead. It's like the old deciding where to go for dinner: it's not that the person who says "I don't care" doesn't care, it's that they have no real strong urge for Italian or pizza or hamburgers or Indian, they just want food, and if you care, find.

It's the type of passive that allows Holly to be the leader, and for Sib to go along with it. It's what some people call "too nice." But here's the thing about that type of "nice." It is genuine. Sib truly loves, and forgives, Holly.

Holly is a wounded girl: from the start, Sib explains that part of her tolerance for what Holly does is that she, Sib, knows the "real" Holly. What the reader (and Lou) sees is a girl who has gone from acting mean to being mean. A girl whose own insecurities and need for popularity and acceptance means that she's not afraid to push others around, and push other's buttons, to get what she wants. Holly is the type of girl you don't want your child to be friends with: not because she's dangerous, but because you know at some point, she's finally going to go too far and hurt your child emotionally. And much as I grew to hate Holly, I have to confess: given her own emotional wounds, I wonder if Holly at some point will "grow up" and stop hurting others to make herself feel better. I wonder if she will ever become self aware. Still, that is just wondering --in the meanwhile, I want those who Holly hurts to stay away from her because they can't fix Holly. Only Holly can.

Wildlife is about Sib and Holly's friendship slowly, messily ending. Just as the boarding situation helps Sib and Ben's relationship progress, it also helps Sib and Holly's friendship implode.

Oh, the reason I put "wilderness" in quotes earlier is that this isn't tents and camping. There are cabins, and meals, and toilets, and showers, and classrooms. It is in the middle of a wilderness area, with opportunities for tents and camping and no toilets or showers. Like many experiences, it's a very controlled "wilderness." It's also a great time for all the teens to practice being grown up and older with a safety net. They are away from home, yes; but there are still rules and teachers and chaperones around.

This is one of my Favorite Reads of 2014, because of the character growth and the dynamics between people.




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© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

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Title: A Midsummer’s Nightmare Author: Kody Keplinger Publisher:  Poppy

May Contain Spoilers

From Amazon:

Review:

This is the first book that I have read by Kody Keplinger.  It won’t be the last.   I enjoyed it, but found that the pacing near the end faltered a bit, and I felt that the overall conflict between Whitley and her dad was wrapped up too neatly to be convincing.  Poor Whitley spent most of the book craving any kind of attention from her detached father, any kind of attention at all, after being ignored by him for the entire length of her summer vacation.  Whitley was hard to like at times, but I found her father, a local TV personality, impossible to like, not even  the slightest bit.  Having messed up his first marriage, he pretty much treated his kids as inconveniences, doling out his precious time when it was convenient for him.  I did feel bad for Whitley, because both of her parents failed her, despite her obvious attempts to wring any kind of reaction out of them.  Her mother was far too bitter over the breakup of her marriage to give Whitley the guidance she longed for, and her father was too selfish being a hot-shot to give her the emotional support she so desperately sought.

When we first meet Whitley, she is hung over, just waking up from a night of partying that is appallingly hazy.  She is aghast when she realizes that she slept with a boy she doesn’t even know, and after making him feel like a pile of dog poo when she refuses to give him her number and blows him off, she flees.  Oops!  She’s messed up again!  She’s gotten so drunk she can’t remember what she did the night before, but as she regularly parties like a fiend, she shrugs it off and instead eagerly anticipates spending the summer at her dad’s condo.  She will swim and hang out with him, tossing a few drinks back while they chat and catch up on everything they have missed during the school year.  Poor Whitley, it turns out, is sadly delusional.

When her dad comes to pick her up, he waits until they get to his new house to tell her that he has moved and…wait for it… that he is engaged and will be tying the knot in September.  Right about there I realized why Whitley can’t stand herself.  Even her parents take no interest in her life, and since she doesn’t believe in making friends, she is sadly without any kind

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Category: Young Adult Fiction
Keywords: Young adult, contemporary, romance, travel, family, love
Format: Hardcover, eBook
Source: Library


Thuy's review:

I had high hopes for this book when I started it. The pretty cover and clever title gave me the impression that it was going to be an impossibly romantic and sweet read that would make me want to hop a plane to London immediately. I am really happy to say that The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight met all of my expectations and more.

The story begins in a place where most of us have been before. Hadley, rushing to catch a flight to London for her father’s wedding, misses it by four minutes. By chance, Hadley meets Oliver, who is also waiting for the next flight. Amid quiet conversations, jokes, a duck movie, pretzels and a bit of whiskey, Hadley and Oliver get to know each as they cross the Atlantic.

I am not usually a fan of characters falling madly in love right away so I was a little worried that the relationship in Statistical Probability would seem superficial or inauthentic. I think this could have easily gone into cheesy and cliché territory, but it didn’t. Oliver and Hadley’s relationship never seemed forced. Even though they only know each other for a short period of time, they spend that time really getting to know each other. They talk about their families and the issues with them and about their feelings as well. The things that they share are things you wouldn’t normally share with someone you just met, but their connection is real enough that I could imagine them sharing these things with each other. The romance aspect is always there but it’s not overpowering. Smith lets the characters take the lead on where the relationship will go.

And speaking of characters, I really liked both Hadley and Oliver. Hadley was someone I could immediately relate to. She is a normal teenager with her own quirks and imperfections. She’s impetuous and sweet and shy at times. She has a lot of anger and sadness about what happened with her father. Despite her anger, she also really misses her father and she is trying her best to accept his new life. Their relationship is complicated and I was really invested in the outcome of it. There were some really touching moments between father and daughter that had me a smidge teary eyed (just a smidge).

Oliver is exactly the type of boy that I always wish would sit next to me on a plane. He’s funny, cute and has a British accent. He’s the perfect companion to spend a long flight next to. I loved that he tried to distract Hadley from her fear of flying.

This is the first book I’ve read by Smith and I really enjoyed her writing style. It’s easy to follow and she ma

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The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18B. Hadley's in 18A.

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

Ok, I don't believe in love at first sight at all, but I have to admit it's a nice fantasy. As someone who spends a lot of time in airports, I certainly wouldn't balk if a cute British guy just happened to be sitting next to me. This sounds like a fun, quirky read a la Anna and the French Kiss -- and we all know how much we loved that one. It also seems like an interesting look at chance and timing and twists of fate. Who knows, maybe it'll even change my mind about that first sight thing... ;)

What about you? Do you believe in love at first sight? What are you waiting on this week?

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For this week's Illustration Friday topic, I decided to play with watercolors and created this little painting of one of my favorite flowers - poppies (which I think are a perennial flower, but I could be wrong).
This painting is cobbled together from several photos I'd taken when we lived in Los Angeles. This type of poppy (Alpine poppy?) was a popular garden flower in California. I remember seeing sizeable beds of them at my husband's office and we had some smaller collections of them at our little apartment complex. I always looked forward to their blooming every spring!

This painting is for sale - here - at my Etsy shop.

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A special announcement from author Jen Calonita:

SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE AND I WANT TO GIVE AWAY SOME BOOKS!

I cannot wait to get into the pool or head down to the beach and just enjoy the fine weather. When I was in junior high and high school we spent our summers on the east end of Long Island (the very East End that Reality Check is set in) and back then I hated the beach. No joke. Sand in my Walkman (yes, Walkman), in my turkey sandwich, sticking to me along with the sunscreen. I just hated going down to the shore. Oh, how times have changed. But back then the only way I could survive those days down at the beach with my sun-loving parents and younger sister was to read. I would pretty much read a book every few days. I'm not kidding--what else did I have to do really? I dare say we didn't even have cable back then (how did I ever survive?)! I would devour this series called Sweet Valley High. Thankfully there were over two hundred books in the series along with all these super special books that were double the length. Basically I had plenty to read and I read A LOT. I drove my parents nuts begging them to drive me to the local independent bookstore to get another book several times a week. My paperbacks worked hard for me -- they had watermarks from being read in the pool with wet fingers. They had sunscreen smears on the book jackets and sometimes even food fell on them, but that's the beauty of a paperback -- it takes a licking and keeps on ticking!

I hope you have as memorable of a summer as I had when I was growing up. To help you celebrate, I'm giving away one of my books in paperback a week, every week from July 3rd to August 29th. It could be a Secrets novel, or the new Reality Check paperback that just came out, or maybe it will be Sleepaway Girls, but it will always be a surprise! (No grumbling if you don't get your pick, okay?) Every week starting on July 3rd a new winner will be chosen at random and there are a bunch of ways you can enter to win. Here's how:

Each of the following will earn an entry:

• Follow Jen Calonita on Facebook and leave a comment saying, "I'm entering the Jen Calonita summer paperback-a-week giveaway!"

• Became a fan of the upcoming Belles series on Facebook, post on the wall, and leave a comment there saying, "I'm entering the Jen Calonita summer paperback-a-week giveaway!"

• Follow Jen Calonita on Twitter @jencalonita and leave a comment saying "I'm entering the Jen Calonita summer paperback-a-week giveaway!".

• Become an email subscriber of Jen Calonita's newsletter.

Winner will be chosen randomly each week and notified via email. Good luck and happy summer!

To enter the giveaway, follow the instructions above and visit/join/comment at Jen's Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Drop by Jen's blog to say hi!

To learn more about Jen Calonita and her bestselling novels, visit http://www.jencalonitaonline.com

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Title: The Time-Traveling Fashionista Author: Bianca Turetsky Publisher: Poppy ISBN: 978-0316105422

 

May Contain Spoilers

From Amazon:

Review:

The Time-Traveling Fashionista is a fun read and a promising start to a new series by debut author Bianca Turetsky.  I love time-travel books, so I was happy to journey along with Louise when she is hurled back in time after trying on a beautiful pink dress in a vintage clothing shop.  When she discovers she has ended up on the Titanic she is less than thrilled, but she becomes determined to save everyone on board by convincing the captain that they are headed for certain doom.  Yeah, that doesn’t work very well, because everyone believes the hype – that the world’s largest passenger ship can’t ever sink.  Instead of looking like a knight in shining armor, Louise only looks like a nutcase, which doesn’t help her cause much.

I liked Louise quite a bit, and immediately starting hoping she could somehow change the disastrous accident that befalls the ship she’s on.  When she is first propelled back in time, she acts like any 12 year old.  She is dazzled by the glitz and wealth suddenly surrounds her, and she kind of spaces out where she is.  It never crosses her mind that she is on the Titanic, and when she does finally get a clue, she is panic-stricken.  She’s made friends, and she doesn’t want anyone to get hurt.  Herself included! Her efforts to save the ship and its passengers are courageous,  and make for a suspenseful read.

The historical details of the time period and the Titanic are interesting, and made me curious to learn more.  I hate to admit that about the only  thing I knew about the Titanic before reading the book was that it was a really big ship, it hit an iceberg, and it sank, with much loss of life (and no, I haven’t seen the movie!).  Bianca Turetsky fleshes out the incident, building an engaging read around the real life events. 

The book itself is so pretty!  There are full color illustrations throughout, in addition to splashes of color in the chapter headings.  Illustrations add so much character to a book, and I don’t think publishers realize how much they make a book stand out.  I realize that they are expensive to include, but they make the finished product so much more memorable.  The Time-Traveling Fashionista is gorgeous, offering up visual treats as Louise journeys through the past.

I have only one complaint with the story.  The villain is too one-dimensional, and I didn’t find him to be an interesting opponent.

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Art and Crafts … well, mostly crafts. I have been busy making birthday presents and celebrating my own birthday as well!