Taken by Erin Bowman

Taken is yet another Dystopian Teen book. In this one, the focus is on the village of Claysoot. It contains lots of women and children, but no men over the age of 18. This is because once the men turn 18, they are taken from the village in the Heist. This is just one of the facts of life in Claysoot.

Gray's older brother, Blaine, was just taken. Afterwards, Gray finds a note from his deceased mother to Blaine. It hints at a secret that she was keeping about Gray, a secret having to do with the Heist. Claysoot is a town surrounded by a high wall. Many have tried to climb the wall, but they all come back as a burned corpse. Gray knows that he has to try because the answers he seeks are on the other side. He ends up finding out answers about himself, Claysoot, the Heist, and much more.

I enjoyed Taken a lot. The writing is very nice, even moving me to tears during Gray and Blaine's goodbye before Blaine is taken. Gray is a bit of a hothead. I didn't dislike him (Except for one very notable exception near the end. You know what you did, Gray, and it sucked), but his temper and impulsive decisions made it difficult to like him sometimes. I wasn't that excited by a lot of the developments near the end of the book, but I'm still willing to give the next book in this series a chance.

I received my copy of Taken from Edelweiss, courtesy of HarperTeen. It's available for purchase now.

Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick

Gorgeous is a modern fairy tale, probably the Ugly Duckling if anything. Becky Randle was a normal girl, maybe too normal. She was invisible and overlooked, resigned to an after-high school life of cashiering at a dollar store. After her mother dies, Becky finds a phone number that connects her with Tom Kelly, who is the most important fashion designer in the world.

Tom has a proposition for her: he will design her three dresses. These dresses, red, white, and black, will make her the most beautiful woman in the world. The red dress works, and Becky is transformed into Rebecca. She is offered movie roles and magazine covers, and all the fancy accommodations that come with being gorgeous. The one catch is that Rebecca has to fall in love and get married within a year or she will go right back to being plain Becky again.

It seems as though she will complete her task when Becky meets Prince Gregory. He is handsome and charitable. Becky knows that her life's goal is to marry the Prince and help him perform good deeds throughout the world. Despite some pitfalls, the two get on swimmingly. Then Becky starts to worry about whether Prince Gregory is really in love with her or Rebecca, the girl within or the pretty exterior.

So it's basically the Ugly Duckling, but if the duckling had an identity crisis after turning into the swan. The concept of inner beauty vs. outside appearance isn't new, but I still enjoyed the story here. This book was really charming. Becky is very likeable, and it's easy to root for her. There's also a bit of mystery surrounding her mother's connection to Tom Kelly. They never explain exactly how the dresses are able to transform Becky into Rebecca, but it's really better that way. I like my fairy tales to keep some of their magic, and as always, I love a happily ever after.

I received my copy of Gorgeous from Netgalley, courtesy of Scholastic Press. It's available for purchase now.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

The year is 1919, and the world seems to be on the brink of the apocalypse. Young men are being shipped overseas to fight a world war, and coming home in a box...or worse. The Spanish flu is killing millions of people, striking without discretion or bias. It can hardly be a surprise that countless people turned to Spiritualism for comfort during these hopeless times. Spiritualism was a near-religious movement that involved the use of séances, spirit photography, and other means to contact people who have passed to the other side. The trouble was figuring out whether the Spiritualists were charlatans, or genuinely in contact with the dead.

At the beginning of In the Shadow of Blackbirds, Mary Shelley (Named after the author) was just sent away to the east coast to stay with her aunt. Mary Shelley's father had been arrested for anti-American sentiments after he helped several young men avoid the draft. She is a minor celebrity, as a photograph of her with a spirit is used to advertise the spirit photography business of Julian, brother of her sweetheart Stephen. Mary Shelley is an odd girl who enjoys science and taking apart machines. She never believed that Julian's pictures were real.

Then Stephen dies in the war, and strange things occur. Mary Shelley sees his ghost, and he tells her the most peculiar things about birds pecking out his eyes. She starts to believe in spirit photography, even attends a séance. It becomes clear that wherever he is, Stephen is definitely not at peace. As much as she doesn't want to lose him forever, Mary Shelley is determined to do whatever it takes to put the boy she loves to rest.

I am definitely the target audience for this book. The time period, the vintage photos, plus the addition of Spiritualism equals a book that is practically made for me. I loved all the historical details, like how Mary Shelley's aunt cooked nothing but onions to keep away the flu and the creepy descriptions of people on the street in their flu masks. When I was in college, I actually wrote a paper on spirit-rappers and I have always been a creepy kid who loved reading ghost stories (And was creeped out by photos of ectoplasm in old black and white pictures). I sort of hoped that the pictures would make this similar to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but the pictures here didn't really have much to do with the story (They were still pretty cool to look at). This was still a great book, a mixture of history, love story, and ghost story. It makes me want to do some research and write a paranormal teen romance set at Roanoke (TM to me, don't steal!) or something less lame.

I received my copy of In the Shadow of Blackbirds from Netgalley, courtesy of Amulet Books. It's available now for purchase.

236 Pounds of Class Vice President: A Memoir of Teenage Insecurity, Obesity, and Virginity by Jason Mulgrew

High school was an incredibly tough time for me. It wasn't quite as bad as junior high, which was thankfully only two years, but it was still tough. I was the chubby greasy-haired girl who only wore stretchy pants and Disney sweatshirts. There are enough memories that I am repressing to write my own memoir. Sorry guys, I was trying to make this funny, but it comes off kind of depressing. I'd like to insert a joke here but I can't think of any...


This is my joke and not at all in reference to the author's weight.

Thanks, internet! Anyways, Jason Mulgrew actually wrote a book containing his high school experience, humiliations and all.

236 Pounds of Class Vice President shows the life of an overweight teenager in Philadelphia. The story starts out with Mulgrew trying to qualify for a state spelling bee in order to earn the dog that will be his companion and protector. From there, he tells about his attempts to get into a fancy private school, and his campaign for Vice President once he realizes that he may need some extracurricular activities for college after graduating. There's also stories about being a straight gay best friend, renting a summer house on the shore while still being underage, and an entire chapter on learning to masturbate. For a change of pace, there is also a list of the best foods exclusive to Philly, and a chapter on music discovery, Beatles to Elvis Costello.

All in all, this was short and fairly funny. As I said before, I can definitely relate to being an awkward teenager. Though even at my worst times, I was always thankful not to be a boy. Kudos to Mulgrew for writing down and sharing these memories, both triumphant and not-so-triumphant. Maybe someday I'll have the courage to do the same.

The Love Song of Jonny Valentine by Teddy Wayne

AKA Sympathy for the Bieber

I was attracted to this book for one simple reason: the cover is really shiny. Then, I took this book because it sounded interesting. After purchasing some concert tickets recently, I received a free subscription to Rolling Stone. Soon after, this issue arrived in the mail. At first, I was horrified. Then, the opportunity to learn about Bieber proved too much to resist. I have a strange fascination with what kids these days are into, so I'm always jumping at the chance to find out about One Direction (Adorable!), Wizards of Waverly Place (Actually pretty cute), and what have you. That article was really interesting, and it did make me a bit more thoughtful about the Biebs. The whole "swag" thing not withstanding, because that is unforgivable. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but a lot of that article makes Bieber sound a little special needs, or like some sort of entitled toddler.

An interesting quote in the article: "No one's ever grown up like Justin Bieber...Ever, in the history of humanity."
No one except countless child stars throughout history, and now Jonny Valentine.

Jonny is an almost-12-year-old music star. He was discovered on Youtube at the age of 9. His debut album was a huge success. Now, his second album has dwindling sales, and his cross-country tour hasn't been selling as expected. Jonny, despite his young age, is very knowledgeable about his image and all the work he has to put into maintaining it. So, he mostly eats healthy food, or does lots of cardio whenever he cheats. He'll give those vague answers about how he loves all girls so that he doesn't alienate chubby girls from his fan base. He knows all about marketing himself, mostly thanks to his manager/mother Jane. It's part impressive and part sad how savvy Jonny is. About the only normal thing about him is his obsession with video games and masturbating (Which, I really didn't need to hear about. It's bad enough that I have to know that Beliebers have a nickname for his penis. It's enough to make me stab knitting needles into my ears).

The main conflict occurs when Jonny finds a letter from his father seeking visitation. Jonny has never even met his father, but he finds messages from someone claiming to be him on a fan website. He decides to write back, though it's difficult because he isn't even allowed to use the internet without supervision. Lesser conflicts involve a staged romance with rising starlet Lisa Pinto, a friendship with the indie band opening for his concerts, and the difficulties of singing in a flying mechanical heart (That may end up dropping you to your death). Also, there is the big decision of whether to record a new album and keep touring next year or attend school like a normal kid.

The Love Song of Jonny Valentine ended up being very good. I felt the necessary feels about how Jonny's life is both very good and very bad. It makes you take a second look at child stardom and fame, makes you question whether everything is just prepackaged advertising. Finally, here is an article that includes clips of Jonny's hit single, Guys vs. Girls. Just as a little treat to end the review.

Free Press sent a copy of The Love Song of Jonny Valentine to my bookstore. Thank you, and I hope you still consider B&N store 2298 when you have any ARCs you are looking to distribute.

Wasteland by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan

I'm going to start out with the thing that bugs me the most about Wasteland. I don't care how special you think you are or how much you don't feel like working, Esther. Your sister slaves her days away, earns your food, and prepares your food. Yet for some reason, it's perfectly okay for you to just go off and play games all day? Um, no. Katniss Everdeen didn't head to the woods just to play four square or capture the flag with Gale, she hunted down food so her family wouldn't starve. Honestly, Esther, I'm glad that you were exiled, because you should have just done your job!

Wasteland takes place in some post-apocalyptic world, where shopping malls and houses stand in ruins, and food and water are scarce. In the story, Prin is a city full of children and teenagers. Nobody lives past the age of 19, so sixteen and seventeen year olds are considered over the hill. Everyone has a job to do in order to earn food and water rations from the Compound. (Everyone, that is, except the super special snowflake Esther, who prefers to play games with her Variant* friend.)

Levi is in charge of the Compound, but he knows that the food and water are running out. He wants to find a spring located under Prin, then buy the city from the people. After that, I'm not exactly sure what he'll do.

A new guy in town, Caleb, runs off some Variants for Prin. They think he's awesome, and he teaches them to fight a little. Caleb is looking for his baby, who was stolen after an attack by some Variants. Levi doesn't like Caleb and turns people against him. There's a war and stuff.

By now, all these dystopian and post-apocalyptic stories are kind of bleeding together. The more I write about it, the more I feel a great amount of dislike for Wasteland. I think it started from all that anger at Esther and just grew from there. I had high hopes, but alas I just did not like this book.

I received my copy of Wasteland from Edelweiss, courtesy of HarperTeen. It's available for purchase now.

*Variants are these savage people who are enemies of Prin. They're wild people or something?

17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma

It all started with Abby Sinclair. She was a 17-year-old girl who had been working at a camp for the summer. She left on a bicycle to meet her boyfriend, and just vanished.

Lauren sees a poster for Abby, then she sees Abby herself. After Abby comes Fiona Burke, Lauren's former neighbor who disappeared when she was 17. After Fiona, there are more and more girls. All of the disappeared, all at the age of 17.

It feels as though the girls want something from Lauren. They want her to save them. Somehow, Lauren knows that Abby is still around to be saved. By saving Abby, she can save all the girls, and hopefully get them to leave her alone.

It's difficult to classify 17 & Gone. I had a difficult time connecting with the story enough to like it. It was okay for what it was, another Teen Psychological Drama.

I received my copy of 17 & Gone from Edelweiss, courtesy of Dutton Juvenile. It's available for purchase now.