Tag Archives: 4-stars

Review: Anne Pfeffer – Girls Love Travis Walker

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 Girls Love Travis Walker
Anne Pfeffer

Travis is a star with girls. He’s not so crash hot at schooling, but he’s good enough at hauling brush. He needs to support his mother, who seems to be getting sicker all the time. Then he meets Kat and Zoe, and one of them will change his life.

I loved this novel. I’ve read my two new Pfeffer books in less than a week. Something about her writing is just snappy and compulsive to read. This book tackles difficult things, like depression, homelessness and being a drop-out.

Goodness knows I don’t have much experience with guys like Travis. But I can see how his charm could hit girls. I really can’t understand the girls who want just a night of sex, but maybe I just don’t understand their brains. Just as not all men are after sex, I guess not all women can be after relationships.

The cover on this is great. Just the way I’d imagine Travis to look. Lean, tanned, rakish. The thing that redeems Travis in the beginning and makes you want to keep reading, is his relationship with his mother. His other relationships seem fleeting, and it’s because he refuses to admit there is anything wrong that he can’t cope with.

This is like an older teenage version of Gracie’s Girl. This novel is obviously aimed at a much older audience, and so it has more grunt to it. Still, the ending was sweet. Somehow everything came out right. Still, I’m not sure it’s heart touching. It’s not a sappy romance. It’s raw, abrasive and not easy to read. The details Pfeffer fits into the novel makes me think she’s been in that world, it’s that good. A well recommended read for teenagers.

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Review Update: 1 December 2021 – I originally only gave this 4 stars, but I’m upgrading it to a 5 stars since I obviously reread it. It was a comfort read, and I loved Travis’ character just as much the second (or maybe third) time around. Something about the combination of purposeful overloading and yet carefully balanced life of Travis gets me every time.

Review: Anne Cassidy – Looking for JJ

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Looking for JJ
Anne Cassidy
Alice Tully just wants to live a normal life, or appear to live one. After a tragedy 6 years ago, she is obsessed with researching Jennifer Jones in the papers. Soon history will catch up with her, and all hell will seem to break loose.
This isn’t an easy book to read, or a comfortable concept. The blurb on the back is in fact a little misleading. But I can’t explain it without wreaking the book. Let’s just say there’s a child, child killer involved, and I think that some of the judgements in the first place were wrong.
The first section of the book is from Alice Tully’s perspective. Apart from her obsession with Jennifer Jones, and some strange character quirks, you would say she was an ordinary girl. This is the part where the author weaved her spell around me effortlessly, until she dropped a bomb.
Look, the second part didn’t work for me. I was uncomfortable of the way JJ was treated from the beginning and her nativity. I guess she was only 10, and she didn’t know much, but still! I totally understand her humiliation, and even some of her reactions. She’s never been taught to control her feelings in a positive way. This is where the rapport you developed with Alice Tully spills over, and made it bearable. Unfortunately, I found that I wanted to skip through this section to find out what was happening in the present, and I had little interest in the ins and outs of who was going to be killed. I actually guessed incorrectly who would die.
Parts 3 and 4 were a great ending. I was made pretty sad by part 3, and part 4 gave me hope for the future. How can your past not catch up though?
If you want more information than what I’ve given you here, DO NOT GO TO WIKIPEDIA. You will spoil the whole suspense of the book for yourself. If you want some more hints or aren’t sure this book is for you due to specific trigger warnings or something similar, email me! Just fix the address to a normal gmail address.

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Review: Sarah Moon (ed.) – The Letter Q

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The Letter Q
Sarah Mood (ed.)
This isn’t a novel at all. It’s a collection of letters by queer authors to their younger selves. The book was produced because every young person identifying as queer has a right to know that their situation of feel lost, alone or misunderstood isn’t unique – there’s someone out there that can understand.
I enjoyed it because it had so many emanations with my teenage years, and it’s always pleasing to read about other success stories.
Another thing is that I often read short story collections to find new authors whose writing style agrees with me. Those are just letters, but the authors hint enough about themselves that I can tentatively pick ones that I’d buy books to try.
I initially picked up this novel because one of my favourite authors, Julie Anne Peters, has a contribution in it. I’d also already encountered Erika Moen from her comic, DAR.
I had fun trying to pick whether the writer was male or female in each case where it wasn’t immediately obvious. A weird thing to do when the authors are all queer and any sexuality or gender could be presented. I didn’t do this in a judgemental way, just in an interested way.
If you’re queer, you’re questioning, you just want to understand more about what queer people go through, this could be a good novel for you to read.

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Review: Lian Hearn – Tales of the Otori 2: Grass for his Pillow

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Grass for his Pillow
Lian Hearn
Takeo has gone with the Tribe in order to fulfil what he feels is his birthright and duty. Lady Kaede has gone home, pregnant but without Takeo. They must each find their strengths and wait for the spring – where perhaps they will meet again.
Once again, I really enjoyed this series and found myself sitting in my car listening to it by choice! I guess I could have brought it inside to listen to, but the atmosphere wouldn’t have been there!
Takeo is a bit dense sometimes, but he does try to do the right thing. You can tell what his weakness is, and he knows as well. He’s haunted by the people he kills in his role for the Tribe and yearns for something more. Kaede is much more commanding and suited to being a warrior, but alas she’s born female and it’s hardly a choice for her.
The ending is decidedly unsatisfactory and reeks of being a second book in a series. Plenty of cliff-hangers and uncertainties. Bah. I’m just a bit irked because I don’t have the third book waiting for me to listen to! Instead I have the prequel to this series.
I had a moment of doubt when I heard the introduction, because it wasn’t in the same voice as the first novel – but then it turned out to be the same readers as before and I was happy. I was used to them sounding the way they did, and I didn’t want change! I think I wouldn’t have listened to it, if it didn’t have the same expressive readers.
As with the first novel, I don’t think that the title of the novel is particularly true. He doesn’t really spend all that much time free to sleep with grass for his pillow. It seems like he spends much of his time locked inside a room, or battling against the snowy elements of Autumn.

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Review: Lian Hearn – Tales of the Otori 1: Across the Nightingale Floor

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Across the Nightingale Floor
Lian Hearn
Taeko has lost his family, his life and everything precious to him. Now he is a pawn for getting revenge on the warlord that rules most of the country. The nightingale floor will sing if he stands on it – is he up to the challenge?
77160Despite my little blurb there, it doesn’t feel like the nightingale floor is actually that important. Most of this novel is about the respective journeys of Taeko and Kaede towards the evil Iida. Taeko makes such a willful apprentice, it’s a wonder he ever gets anything done! Shigeru could have had a bit more airtime in my opinion.
I found myself wanting to sit in my car to listen to it, far after I should have been at work. I’m thinking that’s a good sign. Some parts were just so suspenseful I couldn’t bear to leave. This even held true after I looked at the wikipedia page to find out the name of the book in the series, and accidentally looked at the synopsis.
Whoever translated this novel (from I think Japanese??) did a great job. The turns of phrase were natural, although I found it more difficult to keep track of the characters because of their foreign sounding names.
I actually really enjoyed this novel. The readers on my talking book were great, particularly the male one. His voice was soothing, and yet rose to the occasion at points of tension. The female narrator was a little more sketchy, but ok.
While I was looking up how to spell the author’s name, I stumbled over a rather scathing review, that said that the characters were weak and the settings completely unrealistic. While I agree that Kaede was a bit of a sook, I still liked Taeko. And the lack of description was perfect for a talking book that I wanted to listen to while driving – no distractions!

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Review: A.J. Rochester – Confessions of Reformed Dieter

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Confessions of Reformed Dieter
A.J. Rochester
This is the weight-loss diary of A.J. Rochester, and is the first book before Lazy Girl’s Guide to Losing Weight and Getting Fit which I previously reviewed. I didn’t realise that both of them were available as audiobooks, and so I listened to them out of sequence.
I’m sort of glad I did listen to them out of sequence. Not this this book was no good, but that I found the sense of humour in ‘Lazy Girl’ more to my liking. I’m just not that interested in the size of her arse!
There were a couple of bits that irked me, such as when she goes on about Pluto Pups (again?!?) and lists food items off. But I am excited for her as she goes through the plateaus and faces exercise challenges such as breaking her leg.
Rochester’s formidable personality shines through. I found it engaging to listen to, and was very sad when I got to the end. There were so many things left unanswered! I was frustrated that I didn’t know what happened to ‘the boy’, and I wanted her to find some sort of closure with Nutcase. I know it’s unrealistic to expect that in real life, but it should have avoided…
While then end of this novel is really very positive, when googling to check I spelt her name correctly, I found several less-than-flattering pictures of her more recently. She appears to have piled the weight back on, despite saying that she never would. Not very inspiring by someone who claims her new weightloss is for life!
When struggling with my own desire to thin down and get fit, inspiring books like these are just what I need. I don’t have 50 kg to lose, but knowing that someone else (on a personal level like what I felt with Rochester) has done it, and done it well is inspiring.

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Review: Tanya Huff – The Wild Ways

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The Wild Ways
Tanya Huff
Charlie finds herself hot property when seal skins start going missing – at the behest of an unknown aggressor who wants to poison the seas with oil. Charlie was happy just doing her own little thing, but as a Wild Power she needs to get on the action – or get into trouble with the Gale aunties.
For this novel,the sex is more understated, although sexual attraction is certainly present in spades. It’s not explicit though. Sex magic powers the whole Gale hierarchy – and leads to some deaths, so if you think that might bother you, don’t read it.
There are lots of intercrossed storylines, which makes you want to smack Charlie up the side of the head when she’s being particularly dense. Duh! Why wouldn’t you see that coming??
The timetravel seems completely logical, although it wasn’t exactly clear to me how it was possible. Some of the other things though, such as the Selkies, stuck strictly to traditional guidelines and were simple to follow.
I’m a bit disappointed in the substance of this novel, but I loved the character of Charlie, and felt she was a kindred spirit. I completely agreed with the way she treated some things as well, so that was great and provided me with another point of reference for her. The other characters could have had a bit more depth though.
This novel comes after the events in The Enchantment Emporium and involves many of the same characters. It was nice to see the return of Jack. I’m hoping for another novel in this world, more concerned with him.
Sadly, the explanation for some of the things I seemed to miss in the first book, were still not present in this novel. I found that super frustrating, but enjoyed the novel regardless.

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Review: Suzanne Collins – Catching Fire

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Catching Fire
Suzanne Collins
Katniss thought that she was free of the Arena and the Hunger Games. But now she is being sent back in, because she defied the Capitol. Faced with the choice of keeping herself alive, or Peeta, she doesn’t know what to do.
Her mentor is singularly unhelpful. Would it have killed him to tell her the plan? It seems like there are a lot of unnecessary deaths. They don’t even fill me with sorrow, or even indignation. I feel like most of them are unlikeable anyway, and I didn’t ever get attached to them.
Katniss seems to have lost a lot of her humanity, which was what attracted to me in the first place. Despite professing that she’s in it to save Peeta, she acts completely selfishly the whole time. Even the desire to save Peeta is selfish.
The Arena design is pretty fancy. I really liked the idea of it. I think it would be fun to have one like that to play games in. Not deadly games like the Hunger Games, but fun games.
After the awesomeness of the first novel, this one was a let down. It felt like the deaths were useless, people were unfulfilled in their roles, and the resistance quite futile. It is near unbelievable that the Districts could have such an effect on the Capitol.

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Review: Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games

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The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
Katniss has been selected as a tribute for The Hunger Games, run by the Capitol to keep their Districts in check. Thrust into the arena with no friends that she knows of, she realises that she must kill to survive – even if it means overcoming old alliances.
Katniss appeals to me in this novel. Her personality is consistent and attractive, even if I don’t agree with all of her actions. You feel her anxiety at the choosing, and her excitement over the food on the train. All excellent character building.
I don’t quite agree with the amount of paranoia Katniss engages in. She thinks everything is a trap. The scene with Rue is particularly out of place – why should she trust her? Poor Rue.
Something I would have enjoyed was a bit more perspective from Peeta. He’s the weaker character of the two – now that they are both older, it seems like Katniss is the only one doing any work. He’s good at moping! I guess in his own way he does try to protect her, but he doesn’t do it in a particularly bright way every time.
The Arena is well imagined, although not as awesome as the Arena in the second novel. What I wouldn’t give to be a Gamemaker or a genetic engineer working for the Capitol.
After having put off reading these for a long time, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality overall. I was a bit urked at the beginning that there was so much annoying description, but it improved as the book proceeded.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – Winds of Fate

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Winds of Fate
Mercedes Lackey
Elspeth must find a way to bring magery back to Valdemar. Instead of following the convenient plan set out for her, she chooses to ride a different path – much to the consternation of her traveling companions.
Honestly, I found Darkwind’s sections boring, and often found myself skipping through them impatiently. The best part of those were the griffins!
I don’t see the same character faults in Elspeth that she sees in herself. Nevermind. I’m not sure if it’s a character inconsistency or something else wrong with the writing.
There were some inconsistencies with Skif’s characters. Elspeth says that Skif’s uncle was a thief, and Skif followed in his footsteps, but if you’ve read ‘Take a Thief’, you’ll know this isn’t the case. Also, the ending, I felt that what he might be planning to do would be outside what was required of him as a herald.
This is a great refresher on magic in Valdemar if you’ve forgotten all about it since Vanyel’s time. Lots of useful history and other good things.
I’m positive there are some redeeming factors for this book – I’ve certainly read them more than once. But I’m hardly ever attracted to them when they sit on my shelf ready to read, so that must say something as well.

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