When We Collided by Emery Lord

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Jessica Lorentz Smith

Vivi and Jonah come from two very different families.  She has never met her father and has an artist mom who parents in a more unconventional, hands-off way.  Jonah’s father has recently died of a sudden heart attack leaving he and his five other siblings trying to continue life without their patriarch and while their mother grieves the loss of her life partner.  They both love Verona Cove, a tiny dreamlike ocean community on the coast of California.

Vivi floats into town for the summer while her mother is working on some pieces and makes friends with anyone she comes into contact with.  The old lady running the cafe, the grumpy policeman eating alone, and the art gallery owner looking for a little help running her business during the busy season.  It is here that Vivi finds a job opening the studio in the mornings and where she first encounters Jonah who is there following through with a promise to his little sister.

Told in alternating chapters from each of their perspectives, When We Collided epitomizes how Vivi enters the Daniels’ lives just when they needed her to.  While the majority of the story is about Vivi and Jonah’s relationship, the interactions of each of the supporting characters is also integral to understanding the whole dynamic.  Will they ever be able to tell each other the truth? Are their interactions all based on lust and desire? Will Vivi be able to help Jonah see his true potential and find happiness again? Will Jonah help Vivi accept herself and recognize the results of her actions?

I have heard this book compared to Spinelli’s Stargirl (2002), but with a more contemporary, teenager feel.  I would agree with that comparison, but the mental illness diagnosis and behaviors kick it up a notch.  The mania and obsession presents some foreshadowing of  what’s to come, but I never would have predicted the ending. Admittedly, I teared up and readers might need some tissues to get through the final chapters.

This is for readers who enjoy Amy Reed’s books, Challenger Deep, and Made You Up.

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The Bombs that Brought Us Together by Brian Conaghan

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Jessica Lorentz Smith

Charlie Law is a pretty likable young man.  He knows he is a nerd, but that doesn’t stop him from never being late for school, enjoying reading, and being a nice guy.  He lives in Little Town, a fictitious place that is in the shadow of Old Country, a neighboring country with its own form of government that the people of Little Town fear.

Enter Pav and his family, refugees from Old Country who move into the apartment next door.  Charlie is hesitant at first, but ultimately befriends Pav and decides that he is going to help him learn the lingo of Little Town to help him acclimate once school starts at the end of summer.  Things are going fine for the boys as they clean out a shed, hoping to acquire some furniture so they can have a special place just for themselves, when the ever-present threat of and Old Country invasion comes to fruition.

Hiding under a blanket, sandwiched between his parents as bombs are dropped on Little Town, all Charlie can think about is the time he is missing with Pav and his lingo lessons in the shed and that Erin F, his long-time crush, might not ever be able to come to the shed.  Once the bombs stop they discover that most of Little Town is in ruins and there are Old Country soldiers walking the streets.

Conaghan has created a novel about survival, friendship, and prejudices that really questions our differences and the extent we are willing to go for family and friends.  There is plenty of swearing and scenes where people are beat up pretty badly.  Overall this was an enjoyable read with a likable male protagonist.

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The Leaving by Tara Altebrando

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Jessica Lorentz Smith

leaving

“‘I’ve been here,’ Scarlett said to no one.

The others came in, too.

She stopped at a red horse on a springy coil, the kind you sit on . . . and rock.

Sarah was all panic. ‘Why don’t we remember where we live?‘”

As the mom of a current kindergartner, the idea of this book seemed scary enough to avoid.  Well, then I had three students in a row read the 421 page tome in under a week and ask me about it so I thought I better have real answers instead of the vague ones I am sometimes guilty of when I haven’t read a book, or when I have forgotten what it is about.  Needless to say, just as E. Lockhart states on the cover, once I started reading I was SUCKED in.  I couldn’t even imagine how I would react if my daughter never came home after the first day of kindergarten.  That is exactly what happens to these six families here.  Told through alternating chapters between two “survivors” and one sibling of a survivor, this psychological thriller had me making predictions left and right about what could have happened to these kids and how they could not have any memory of where they have been for the last 11 years and only a few pieces of memories left from before.

It is interesting to think about what would happen to the families.  Would they relocate? Would the marriages fall apart?  Would they fall into depression or go crazy looking for their lost child? Each of these ideas and more are explored as the characters try to discover who they are and how they came to be returned.  They all go through a series of intelligence and physical tests, hypnosis, and MRIs to try and learn something about where they have been.  Ultimately who can they trust when they can hardly trust themselves? And then someone recognizes one of them, a swallowed penny, a strange tattoo. Tiny fragments of details that challenge everything they know come into play.

Here is an example of a Storyboard That created from this book.

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Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Jessica Lorentz Smith

snow“I had affectionately named my myriad pills after some of the seven dwarfs.  Each one corresponded to the effect it had on my mood. Sleepy made me sleepy; Grumpy, etc. One by one, they all came to represent— even Sneezy.”

We have all heard the fairy tale of Snow White, but this one is not the traditional happy ending and includes a lot more violence and blood.  Snow lives in a mental institution and has since she tried to walk through a mirror at five-years-old.  She even has the scars to prove it.  Now the only life she has ever known is from interactions with her “white coat,” or individual care-taker, and the other residents in the facility.  She has a special relationship with Bale, who landed himself in the facility for setting his house on fire.  As the story unfolds this obsession with fire will have a direct contrast to Snow.

Snow is also an amazing artist and avid dreamer.  Snow sketches about these dreams and comes to find some similarities and reoccurences.  One specific incident turns out to not be a dream, but a reality, and she follows through with what she has only dreamed about in the past.  This leads Snow to theTree and to finally learning about her true identity.  What ensues is an epic adventure of self-discovery, finding true love, friendship, and family.

I found this to be a fast-paced read and engaging enough that I wanted to know where Paige took this interpretation of the fairy tale.  I was not disappointed, but did have some Frozen-esque moments.

For more fairy tale retellings, see this infographic here or here.

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The Reader (Sea of Ink and Gold #1) by Traci Chee

Posted on January 5, 2017 by Jessica Lorentz Smith

reader

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” Stephen King

Sefia has grown up learning ways to stay alive, pick locks and survive through guidance from Nin.  She knows that they are always on the run, but not from what.  One day after processing some pelts she talks Nin into letting her go to the market by herself to make the trades.  With some hesitation and strict instructions, Nin agrees.  On Sefia’s return she is overcome by the smell of iron and hears a commotion so she hides in the bushes.  She sees Nin attacked by a hooded warrior and abducted.  Alone, Sefia sets out to find Nin and discover why they were being hunted.  Her only clue is a strange rectangular object at the bottom of her pack that she comes to know is a book.

The outside of this book has a strange symbol that Sefia is constantly on the look out for.  One day while hiding in the treetops she encounters some impressors transporting a crate with air holes.  Impressors are men who capture boys and force them to fight each other, turning them into killers, in the name of Serakeen.  Letting her curiosity get the best of her, Sefia sneaks into their camp and opens the crate where she finds a battered-looking boy laced with fresh wounds on his legs, arms and across his back.  She helps him escape and together they form a team dependent on each other in Sefia’s pursuit to find her aunt Nin.

Like most fantasy books, this story has many plot lines and characters that can be confusing to readers, but the adventures on pirate ships, being hunted by impressors and the dynamic between Sefia and the boy who becomes known as Archer, are enough to push readers through to the end where Chee cohesively ties the plot lines together.

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