Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler

Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler

Pages: 290
Publisher: Little, Brown
Release Date: 6th August 2009

“Don’t worry, Anna, I’ll tell her okay? Just let me think about the best way to do it.”

“Okay.”

“Promise me? Promise you won’t say anything?”

“Don’t worry.” I laughed. “It’s our secret, right?”

According to Anna’s best friend, Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna light-heartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie - she’s already had her romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

Beautifully written and emotionally honest, this is a debut novel that explores what it means to truly love someone, what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every single moment this world has to offer.

Twenty Boy Summer is a beautiful story of love, loss and friendship that I loved. Sarah Ockler has written a stunning debut.

I thought that the way that the cover tied in with the story was very clever. Sea glass is something that is very important in Twenty Boy Summer as it’s something that Anna associates with Matt and his summers in Zanzibar Bay. This was reflected in the blue and green sea glass heart holding a single piece of rare red sea glass on the cover. I think that it’s quite rare for a cover to mirror the story and the characters to such an extent.

Even though Twenty Boy Summer deals with grief, it’s not a depressing story at all. There are sad moments, especially in Anna’s journal entries to Matt and how she thinks of him, that actually made me cry at some points. But there were very funny moments scattered throughout the novel too, usually when Frankie was involved. She had madcap ideas and funny lines, but it was the way that Frankie spoke that really cracked me up. She kept trying to use complex words and mixed them up and put them in completely the wrong place. It found it pretty funny!

The way that Sarah Ockler let us get to know Matt was subtle and very well done. We saw postcards sent to Anna and flashbacks and memories from their time together. From those things we learnt of Matt’s love of words and books, his love of the sea and his protective nature, especially where his sister was concerned. Sarah Ockler allowed us to see exactly why Anna fell in love with him.

Twenty Boy Summer is a heartbreakingly beautiful debut and I’m really looking forward to reading whatever Sarah Ockler writes next.

Sophie

In My Mailbox 31

This was started by the fabulous Kristi who was inspired by Alea. If you want more information check out their blogs. All summaries are from the book jackets.

Goddess Boot Camp - Tera Lynn Childs

Phoebe, who recently discovered she’s a descendent of Nike (the goddess, not the shoe), is finding out that supernatural powers come with a crazy learning curve.

A few months ago, when Phoebe’s mom married a Greek guy and moved her halfway around the world to the tiny island of Serfopoula, she had no idea that she’d soon find herself surrounded by the descendents of Greek gods, let alone that she’d learn her own heritage was more mythical that mortal. But because she still doesn’t quite have her new powers under control, something that can be dangerous since the gods a re known for smoting those who use their powers recklessly, Phoebe’s been enrolled at Dynamotheos Development Camp, also known as Goddess Boot Camp, for the summer. What kind of earthly torture will Goddess Boot Camp be? Well, it can’t be any worse than Hades, can it?

This summer will be all about learning her powers, reigning them in, training for the marathon at the Pythian Games (the only athletic event bigger than the Olympics). And surviving Goddess Boot Camp with her love life and sanity intact!

I loved Oh.My.Gods. so I can’t wait to see what Phoebe gets up to next.

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

From Amazon: After winning the brutal Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen returns to her district, hoping for a peaceful future. But Katniss starts to hear rumours of a deadly rebellion against the Capitol. A rebellion that she and Peeta have helped to create. As Katniss and Peeta are forced to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. Unless Katniss and Peeta can convince the world that they are still lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying... The terrifying sequel to The Hunger Games.

I’ve almost finished this and ‘wow’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.

The Darkangel - Meredith Ann Pierce

Aeriel is kidnapped by the darkangel, a black-winged vampyre of astounding beauty and youth, and taken to his castle keep. There, she must serve his thirteen wives, wraiths whose souls he has stolen away. Aeriel knows she must kill the darkangel before he takes his fourteenth bride and comes into full power, but she is captivated by his magnificent beauty and intrigued by the spark of goodness in him. Will Aeriel save the darkangel’s soul, or can she end his reign of beautiful terror before he finds his beautiful bride?

I’d never heard of this before when I found it yesterday but I thought it sounded like my kind of book.

Sophie

Featured on Friday: Beth Fantaskey

Beth Fantaskey lives in Pennsylvania and has two children. She has a degree in journalism and Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side is her first novel.

1. Is there a specific time or place that you do your best writing in?
I like to write in my home office during the day. I need to get started in the morning, right after I read the newspaper, or the whole thing gets off track!

2. Who were your favourite authors as a teenager? Are they different to your current favourites?
As a teenager, I loved authors like Tolkien and Dickens and Austen and Melville... pretty much the same people I love today (and sometimes reference in my own fiction!) And classic humorist James Thurber was always a real favorite, too. I used Thurber's "My Life and Hard Times" when I taught basic composition at Susquehanna University, and I was laughing out loud - while my students looked at me like I was crazy. I guess you had to grow up with him to get it!

3. If you were only allowed to take three books to a desert island, what would they be?
"A Thurber Carnival" (an anthology of James Thurber's funniest stuff), "Fierce Pajamas" (a collection of the best humor writing from the New Yorker Magazine), and Charles Dickens' "The Pickwick Papers." (Actually, I'm surprised at how easy that was... I guess I would want to laugh a lot if I was alone on an island!)

4. I loved that Jess wasn’t incredibly skinny. Did you set out to make her that way? Why?
Yes, I wanted Jess to be an average-sized heroine. I get tired of the whole "skinny = beautiful" thing. Who says those two things have to equate? As Lucius would say, why not have a presence? Really, though, Jess could have broken other stereotypes about what girls "should" be... I just chose weight because it's such a fixation. In my next book, Jekel Loves Hyde, the heroine is very shy (like me), but proves that she's still a strong person. I like people who are different from the "ideal."

5. Where did you get the idea for the warring Romanian vampire royal families?
Oh, gosh... I have no idea! I guess it's the old Romeo/Juliet thing about forbidden love and families that are torn apart. Clashing families is a classic theme, because family fights are so intense, I suppose. When you add vampires into that mix, there's great potential for chaos!

6. Would you ever write a sequel to Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side?
I am considering that right now... so many people are asking that I wouldn't rule it out. However, it's still up in the air, because I've been so focused on completing Jekel Loves Hyde. I'm just now seriously turning my attention to the possibility of a sequel.

7. Jess had a very realistic reaction to learning that vampires exist. Was this something that you saw as important?
Incredibly important! I tried to imagine how a girl would really feel in Jess's situation, and rational girl that she is, I didn't think she'd just say, "Okay, that's great!" She'd be skeptical. Heck, I'd be skeptical!

8. Are you working on anything at the moment? Can you tell us anything about it?
I'm still putting the very last finishing touches on Jekel Loves Hyde - seeing the cover art, that kind of thing - but beyond that, it's all top secret. Well, pretty much secret! :-)

Thank you very much, Beth! You can visit Beth at her website here and head over to her blog to help plan Jessica and Lucius’s wedding here. You can also read my review of Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side here.

Sophie

The Reformed Vampire Support Group - Catherine Jinks

The Reformed Vampire Support Group - Catherine Jinks

Pages: 355
Publisher: Quercus
Release Date: 4th June 2009

Other Titles by This Author: Evil Genius, Genius Squad, Pagan Chronicles, Eye to Eye etc.

Fifteen-year-old Nina has been a vampire since 1973, and she’s hated every day of it. It has really cramped her style and social life - and it’s boring. Plus, she has to wear wrap-around shades 25/7 and she can’t get a decent hair cut. But things take a turn for the worse when a member of her therapy group is killed by an unknown vampire slayer.

Threatened with extinction, she and her fellow vampires set out to hunt down the culprit - and soon find themselves caught up in a dangerous quest full of guns, thugs and a very sexy werewolf. Perhaps there’s more to being a bona fide vampire after all…

The Reformed Vampire Support Group wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, though it did grow on me.

The vampire lore in The Reformed Vampire Support Group was unlike any I’ve ever read before. It’s a strange mix of traditional vampire myths such as death by stake, sleeping during the day and turning to ashes in death and new elements that turns the traditions on their head. Catherine Jinks’s vampires are sickly, weak and really quite fragile. It’s a very individual take on vampire myth that I thoroughly enjoyed learning about.

One of the things that helped The Reformed Vampire Support Group to grow on me was Nina. She’s snarky, witty and really funny sometimes. Something that really made me laugh is that she writes vampire novels. I think it’s kind of brilliant. I wouldn’t mind reading the Bloodstone Chronicles! Nina is brave, strong (mentally!) and everything that she thinks vampires aren’t.

But the point in the novel when I really began to enjoy The Reformed Vampire Support Group was with the introduction of Reuben. It’s very rare for me to like the werewolf over the vampires. In fact, it’s never happened before! The way that Nina described the gorgeous, and slightly feral, werewolf made him much more appealing that the supposedly pathetic vampires.

Because of my preference for Reuben, I’m definitely going to be reading the sequel, The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group when it’s released.

Sophie

Airhead: Being Nikki - Meg Cabot

Airhead: Being Nikki - Meg Cabot

Pages: 301
Publisher: Macmillan
Release Date: 4th September 2009

Other Titles in the Series: Airhead, Runaway (2010)

Teen-supermodel Nikki Howard has a secret. She’s no the gorgeous golden airhead she seems - on the inside she’s someone else. Literally. Em Watts is stuck in the body of glamazon celebutante Nikki. And it’s not easy. Especially when Nikki’s past is about to catch up with her, her boss is spying on her, and Em’s heart wants one thing but her lips keep kissing someone else…

Being Nikki took me by complete surprise. I had expected more of Em’s getting used to living Nikki’s life as in Airhead, but I got a whole lot more.

There were lots of elements of mystery in Being Nikki which I can’t say to much about without giving loads away! I was constantly being shocked by what was revealed and the questions that arose. It was paced a lot faster than Airhead and didn’t let my attention stray from the book for even a second. I stayed up until the early hours of the morning to finish Being Nikki as I couldn’t bear to put it down until I had read every last word.

I loved having an insight into the world of a top model. I expected all of the bitchiness between the models but I didn’t think that modelling was actually that difficult until now. I was quite surprised actually. The bit about Nikki/Em’s life that would’ve got on my nerves the most however, was Stark’s utter control and spying. I would have ended up as paranoid as Em!

Meg Cabot’s characters are fabulously written. They each have distinct quirks and personalities that set them apart. In Being Nikki it becomes clear what Nikki was really like before Em took over - a bitch. I don’t usually swear, but that’s the only way that I can think to describe her. Steven is a really sweet character who was introduced rather surprisingly. But it’s Christopher that stole my heart. He’s pretty darn awesome. I mean, what girl wouldn’t want a guy that was willing to do anything to avenge your death?

I loved Being Nikki and I’m really excited to read the final instalment of Em’s story, Runaway, next year. I think it’s going to be an explosive finale!

Sophie