MY LIBRARY: STATS
2562
books on my shelves
including
1199 TBR
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 It was okay
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 LOVED it!
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 Everneath by Brodi Ashton
Everneath #1
Simon Pulse 2012
Trade Paperback
370 pages
YA Fantasy
Six months in our time have passed since Nikki Beckett disappeared, but for Nikki a hundred years in the Everneath have gone by – a hundred years wrapped in a coma-like embrace with an immortal, Cole. Cole and the others like him survive by siphoning off emotions, especially negative ones, from mortals, so when Nikki thinks her boyfriend has betrayed her with another girl on the very day that the driver who killed her mother as she was out jogging gets let off all charges, it doesn’t take much for her to be lured into the haven of emotional oblivion by Cole.
But during that time, after which she should have been little more than a vegetable like all the other mortals, one memory survived that sustained her humanity: her boyfriend, Jack. Nikki returns to the surface, her family and her old life, but nothing is the same. Relations with her dad, the mayor, are strained, and everyone at school thinks she spent the last six months on drugs – a rumour helped along by her own pale, stick-thin appearance.
And Cole has followed her. He’s stunned that she survived the Feed, and that she returned to the surface instead of going to the Tunnels, the fate for all other mortals after a century-long Feed. Convinced that if she becomes like him they can rule the Everneath, he’s not going to make it easy for her to live her life.
Especially considering she only has six months left, six months to say goodbye to her family – and Jack – before the Shades come for her and take her to the Tunnels for eternity.
I actually read this book at the end of April, so about two and a half weeks have gone by and I’m only now finding the time to write this. Books tend not to fare as well with me when too much time goes by between reading and reviewing it, but I find that with Everneath my feelings haven’t changed – I just don’t have the fresh memories and thoughts to articulate them.
I’ve been avoiding these YA novels about life and death and immortality and various representations of Hades etc. The Persephone myth (and the one of Orpheus and Eurydice) is a strong theme throughout the novel, openly discussed but meant as a frame of reference or perhaps even legitimacy for the premise. They don’t tend to interest me as much – when I read the blurbs as I browse the shelves they all start to sound the same. But I decided to give this one a try, mostly based on a whim: I hadn’t read any reviews of it or heard anyone talk about it.
Overall, I spent the first half somewhat confused and perplexed, and the second half a bit more interested, but I still finished it feeling decidedly unenthusiastic. It wasn’t Nikki’s decision to return that confused me – that made sense, especially considering she was acting on instinct and whatever was left of her personality at the time. What I didn’t get were people’s actions and motivations, a lot of the time. First there’s Nikki’s family, her father and little brother. Her re-appearance is glossed over and all we get is the short version of her “discussion” with her father in his study – like being called to the principal’s office – that she’ll pull her act together and take weekly drug tests. Their relationship is stand-offish at best, but as mayor you’d think he would have made an attempt to find her.
The only one who did go looking for her, convinced she wasn’t just a teen runaway, was Jack. But his behaviour struck me as odd when she returns, considering all his effort to find her. Maybe not, I don’t know. And it’s that very feeling of ambivalence and perplexed second-guessing that spoilt the story for me. Nikki’s lack of emotions (after they’ve been sucked out of her over a hundred years by Cole) goes a long way to explaining her seemingly complete lack of fear at being sentenced to the Tunnels, a kind of purgatory that Cole gives her a glimpse of (she lived through the experience of being buried alive in an illusion), but later when she starts feeling things again, I was surprised that fear of what is essentially a death sentence didn’t surface. It would be a pretty normal reaction I would think.
Instead she’s apathetic, drifting like a ghost through high school classes and meals with her family while trying to avoid Cole – and knitting! She returns mostly because of Jack, yet spends months avoiding him and not speaking to him. Finally she tells him what really happened when she disappeared, and the story actually started to move then. But if the characters – and their motivations – fail to be strong, realistic, empathetic and convincing, the story itself becomes thin and dull. Such is the case here.
Nikki is, as I mentioned, confusingly apathetic – her desire to come back to the surface was so strong she beat the Tunnels, and yet once there she just … knits. And avoids everyone she wanted to see again. She reflects that she doesn’t want to cause anyone any more pain than she already has, but she’s there, in their faces every day. Selfish yes? At least, by her thinking. And I was boggled by the glaringly obvious questions that she didn’t ask Cole. Again, apathetic.
Meanwhile, Jack is too good to be true. He’s the ultimate popular guy at school, excels at sport (what was he again, captain of the football team? So big a cliche I thought at first Ashton was being mocking), but also smart. He sleeps around and goes through lots of girlfriends, but when he finally starts a relationship with Nikki, his childhood friend, he’s the ultimate good boy. And in love. We’re not sure why though. There are some flashbacks, and the memories of them as children were the only ones that justified his love for Nikki.
Then there’s Cole. Who should have been a strong character, and interesting. Flawed, certainly. But strangely forgettable. Where he’s drawn well is in his inhuman character – he’s not human, nor mortal, and that at least comes across clearly. But I found it hard to get a “bead” on him. I neither liked nor disliked him. Most of the time I just wished he’d do something. He wanted Nikki to join him, but spent most of the time alienating her or scaring her. I confess I don’t understand how the mind of an immortal works. For me, Meredith was the most interesting character, for reasons I won’t divulge because it’d spoil it.
As I mentioned, YA novels that draw in mythology don’t generally appeal to me – or they would if they were written really well. Ashton’s writing is solid, and I did find myself liking it a lot more towards the end, but overall it was disappointingly lacklustre, and the mythology aspects seemed contrived and largely irrelevant. I started this thinking it was a standalone novel, and I can’t help but wish it were, that it ended with a strong decisive finale to make up for all the drifting. Because I don’t think I’ll read on to find out what happens. I get the feeling it’ll be rather predictable.
That said, I’m interested in reading something different by Ashton, because for all my complaints I quite liked her style, and I appreciate what she was trying to do here. If you love the characters, you’ll love the book as so many have. But if the characters fall short for you, the story will too. I guess that’s just the way fiction goes, a lot of the time.
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Other Reviews:
“I think if I hadn’t read The Goddess Test, Everneath would seem like a unique read, but for me there wasn’t anything specific that stood out for me about this story.” The Australian Bookshelf
“Oh. My. Gosh. WOW! Really, that is my first reaction upon finishing this book. And I cannot think of a better way for a book to leave me feeling.” The Broke and the Bookish
“There’s a reason the Orpheus/Eurydice story has been popular for thousands of years – it’s a great story, and Ashton does a nice job on this update. The two boys (part of the usual triangle) are both very romantic, and the Persephone/Hades mix into the plot provides great narrative tension.” Rhapsody of Books
Missed yours? Leave me a link and I’ll add it.
Sorry I’ve been a bit absent lately: I have family visiting from Australia (one of my sisters and my parents), and this is the first time they’ve met Hugh. We’ve been busy, and it’s going to get even busier. I’m what, three book reviews behind and have a long Shelves are Groaning post that I’m working on.
So here’s a little nerdy fun that I learnt of recently, thanks to Claire of Word by Word, to tide us by. It’s a site called Tagxeco that creates images made up of the most common words on your blog. So I made a giraffe!
 Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Penguin 1995 (1994)
Trade Paperback
247 pages
Historical Fiction
I rarely do this, but I have to face facts: I’m not going to finish this book. Maybe I could have another day, another time, a different place and mood, but considering I was reading this in April for the Around the World in 12 Books Challenge, I’ve run out of time and must admit defeat. Out of 247 pages I read to page 126.
Shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize (now the Man Booker Prize), this story about a boy called Yusuf who is sold into the service of a successful merchant to pay his father’s debts when he is 12, has much to recommend it and I don’t in the slightest want to put anyone else off reading it.
Set during a time of European expansion in Africa – sometime before WWII, judging by the descriptions of the German’s silver cross flag (after the war, Africa was divided up more clearly by the Europeans but before it, places like Tanzania saw several different colonisers – I picture them mapping their way through the land, deciding which bits they want based on the natural resources available) – this place that wasn’t quite Tanzania yet is on the cusp of losing its pre-colonial identity. Through Yusuf’s innocent, uneducated eyes we get glimpses and snippets of the presence of Germans, Belgiums and Brits, though most of the time the locals don’t even know – or care – what country they’re from.
Interestingly enough, though, the Indians seem to have largely “joined the other side”, so to speak, and are practically native, with their own insights into colonialism. The clash of cultures is delicate, subtle and quite beautifully rendered, and entirely from the perspective of the Africans (at least up to where I read) in the days before the Europeans brought their own war to African soil. Take this snippet of conversation between Kalasinga, a Shiekh Indian who lives almost like a local (and is accepted by them), and Hussein, a shop keeper who lives in a village halfway up the mountain:
‘In India they have been ruling for centuries,’ Kalasinga said. ‘Here you are not civilized, how can they do the same? Even in South Africa, it is only the gold and the diamonds that make it worth while killing all the people there and taking the land. What is there here They’ll argue and squabble, steal this and that, maybe fight one petty war after another, and when they become tired they’ll go home.’
‘You’re dreaming, my friend,’ Hussein said. ‘Look how they’ve already divided up the best land on the mountain among themselves. In the mountain country north of here they’ve driven off even the fiercest peoples and taken their land. They chased them away as if they were children, without any difficulty, and buried some of their leaders alive. Don’t you know that? The only ones they allowed to stay were those they made into servants. A skirmish or two with their weapons and the matter of possession is settled. Does that sound as if they’ve come here for a visit? I tell you they’re determined. They want the whole world.’ [pp86-7]
But the novel itself seemed to be less about colonialism – at least directly – and more about the end of Africa’s isolation from foreign interests and greed. As Yusuf journeys into the interior with the merchant, Aziz, and a large retinue of porters and guards, conversation and descriptions of landscapes become more and more about, well, paradise. Not having finished it, I don’t have a complete picture of the novel and where it’s going, thematically, but I wanted to at least share with you what I gleaned from the half that I did read. It’s also about religion – namely Islam, seeing as the people converted to it long before the Europeans arrived – and paradise as a garden is the highest level of heaven in that religion. I can’t even say if this is presented in an overly romantic or nostalgic way – it didn’t seem so, but I’d need to read the whole thing.
As I said, I don’t want to put anyone else off reading this. Where I struggled was with the prose. It’s technically, or grammatically, an easy story to read, but my mind constantly wandered and the way the story’s written, I found it very hard to visualise as I read, making it even harder for me to concentrate and focus on the story.
You know how sometimes you read a story that you loved and you say something like, it drew me in or I got lost in the story or even the more dull, I couldn’t put it down. Those stories stay with us for a long time, and the magic of the prose lingers on in our heads – as do the images. This was the opposite of that, for me. I felt immensely distant from the actual story, by not the words per se but the structure of the sentences. It occurred to me at some point that this could very well be an African style of storytelling, which I struggled with because I’m so used to a European, or western style of storytelling. I’m not even sure that sharing a quote would help get this across, as there was no particular passage that alienated me and it all reads perfectly well. Maybe that’s the problem: maybe it’s too literal for me and so I had a hard time visualising. I’m sure a linguist would have a theory or two.
Ugh I hate not finishing books!
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Other Reviews:
“Through the book the different views on slavery and on what is and isn’t slavery play out and we see Yusuf struggle with who he is and if he will ever truly be free. This was a really interesting book that I highly recommend to all.” Amy Reads
“A novel which begins as a beautifully realized coming-of-age story develops into a story of high adventure, social and political realism, and eventually love.” Seeing the World Through Books
“Paradise is at once the story of an African boy’s coming of age, a tragic love story, and a tale of the corruption of traditional African patterns by European colonialism.” Clairelandia
Missed yours? Leave me a link and I’ll add it.
This is a bit late but not by much. I’m behind in a lot of ways but I have a good new excuse: I’m working! Half-days but still. I’m also struggling to finish the book for Tanzania for the Around the World in 12 Books Challenge – it’s short but my mind keeps wandering, like A LOT. But I got some books read, I’m only one review behind, so I’m cutting myself some slack. 
# Books Read: 7
# Books Read to Date: 27
# Books Bought in March: 24
Review Copies: 1
Kindle e-books: 2
Books From Netgalley: 1
Favourite Book: Bringing up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting
Most Disappointing Book: Sweet Addiction
Currently Reading: Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah and Fifty Shades Darker by EL James – no guesses which of these I’ll finish first!
Books Read for Challenges & Book Club:
Mount TBR Challenge – 1 (Fifty Shades of Grey)
Around the World in 12 Books Challenge – not quite finished the book for Tanzania!
Canadian Book Challenge – 2 (The Maladjusted and A Tangled Web)
Classics Book Club – it was Euripides and Oedipus Rex this month but I packed my copy of the former and so decided to give myself a break.
L.M. Montgomery Mini-Challenge: 1 (A Tangled Web)
Books Read in April
21. Bringing up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman (non-fiction: parenting)
22. Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James (erotic romance)
23. The Maladjusted by Derek Hayes (fiction; short stories)
24. Sweet Addiction by Maya Banks (erotic romance)
25. Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty (YA Fiction/Romance)
26. A Tangled Web by LM Montgomery (Fiction; Classics)
27. Everneath by Brodi Ashton (YA Fantasy) – review to come
April also marked the second anniversary of Giraffe Days on WordPress!
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Coming up for May – it’s Cuba this month for the Around the World in 12 Books Challenge, and I had had a hard time finding a book for some reason. I’ve got one called Dirty Blonde and Half-Cuban by Lisa Wixon, no idea what it’s going to be like.
May’s book for the Classics Book Club (hosted by Eclectic Indulgence, in the flesh), is Beowulf (by anonymous – or unknown). I had a copy which I packed away so I’m getting a new one (I think mine might have been shit anyway), translated by Seamus H–something-or-other. I don’t like missing the book club meetings so often, but they’re also books that generally take up more reading time than ones I read for myself, so it can be hard.
How about you, are you finding it hard to get time to read these days?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is particularly fun:
Top Ten Books You’d Like to See Made into a Movie
I will have to double-check all these to make sure there isn’t already a film! I really don’t watch much telly or movies…
 1. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Followed by a string of sequels, of course! I’m rather surprised this one hasn’t already been done as a movie, actually.
 2. Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
This could make a really powerful, tragic arthouse movie, the kind you see once and can never bear to watch again – but it lives on in your head forever more. Oh it would be goooooood!
 3. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
This story of two black professors “duking” it out at an elite American university and the children of one of them was an awesome read, and would make the kind of movie like Wonder Boys I think. It has that kind of humour.
 4. Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell
This beautiful, romantic and intelligent story told from the point of view of a relatively minor character in the King Arthur legend would translate so well to the big screen. And if you haven’t read it yet, DO!
 5. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
Another great period piece, this could make a pretty heavy movie and I don’t know whether the back-and-forth timelines would adapt so well, but it’s a moving story and the characters and landscapes would look tremendous on film.
 6. Dance with Snakes by Horatio Castellanos Moya
The closest I can get to an action movie, considering it’s about a guy who “inherits” a car empty except for several deadly snakes that live in it, and altogether they go on a rampage – it’s actually kind of hilarious, so in the wrong hands it could end up as an over-the-top cheesefest. In the care of a great director though, it’d make a really interesting film.
 7. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith
This would make a really sweet love story movie, though oddly enough there’s not a huge market for teen romances in film. It’s not a romantic comedy, see. But considering how popular romance is in YA, it’s only a matter of time before the studios cotton on and start looking for story ideas (especially considering the success of Twilight).
 8. Ten Thousand Lovers by Edeet Ravel
One of my favourite books, part of its power is in the main character’s love interest, who would be tricky to cast – I think you’d have to find an unknown actor, someone who doesn’t come with any baggage whatsoever. And yeah, quite possibly another arthouse film, but oh so powerful! It would have great cinematography too, being set in Israel.
 9. You Deserve Nothing by Alexander Maksik
I had thought I’d heard it had already been optioned, but I couldn’t find that info on the internet so I guess I just got it confused with something else. They would probably have to make sure there are no legal battles coming before taking it on, but it would make a great movie.
 10. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Seriously, a conspiracy movie set in present-but-alternate day in San Francisco under terrorist attack, with a small group of teens using their techie know-how to wage their own protest against the repressive regime that’s set up to police the city – very timely too, with some hugely important messages. Visually, it’d make a great movie, and action-packed too.
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Ones I wanted to include but they are actually coming out – or have been done and I just live in a cave! – include:
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters – superb story, I loved it to bits. It’s a TV show from 2005 and now a movie’s coming out too.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and – I’m not surprised to find it’s already being filmed (due out in 2013), but also bummed because I was so pleased with myself for thinking of it! Starring Kate Winslet, I’m sure it’s going to be great because it’s perfect for a movie!
I thought of a bunch more books that’d make great movies too, like Little Bee, Spanish Fly, and possibly Room though that’d be tricky, I’m not sure it’d adapt well.
 A Tangled Web by LM Montgomery
Bantam 1989 (1931)
Mass Market Paperback
257 pages
Fiction; Classics
It all begins with garrulous Aunt Becky and the infamous Dark jug. She may be dying but the old matriarch of the large Dark and Penhallow clan is determined to throw one last “levee” – and stir up her extended family with her plan for bequeathing the heirloom. Dating back to when the first Darks came to Prince Edward Island in the early 19th century, the Dark jug has been in the family ever since, and with it comes a certain prestige for the owner. Over the generations, the Darks and Penhallows have intermarried time and again, and now they gather in Aunt Becky’s rooms to hear what’s to become of this jug, and who will get it.
But sharp-tongued Aunt Becky’s not about to make things easy for them. She announces that the new owner of the jug will be announced a year from October, and that Dandy Dark is trusted with the secret – or perhaps he will make the decision on her behalf, so everyone should be on their toes.
And so they all are. Drowned John and Titus Dark stop swearing, knowing that Aunt Becky wouldn’t give the jug to someone who curses all the time. Tempest Dark decides to finally start his history of the clan that he’s been talking about doing for years. And perpetual bachelor Penny Dark thinks maybe he should get married, if he wants to get the jug, and casts his eye upon the spinsters in the clan.
Meanwhile young, pretty Gay Penhallow is caught up in love with Noel Gibson, while her sophisticated and seductive cousin Nan decides to steal him away. Peter Penhallow suddenly and violently falls in love with widowed Donna Dark, whom he has hated since they were children – only he’s been travelling through Africa and South America so much he hasn’t seen her since, or not until Aunt Becky’s infamous final levee. Joscelyn and Hugh Dark, separated on their wedding night for reasons unknown, still yearn for things they cannot have. And forty year old spinster and dressmaker Margaret Penhallow too yearns for things she feels she can never have: a beautiful little baby to adopt and the little old house she calls Whispering Winds.
At the centre of it all is the jug, and Aunt Becky’s final surprise.
According to the inscription on the inside of my copy, I got this book for my birthday in 1993 from my brother (meaning, my mum picked it out for him to give to me), when I turned 14. As far as I can remember I only read it once, but I did love it. I’m always wanted to re-read it, and now I finally have I can say that I still love it. Allowing so much to go by meant that it felt like visiting old friends I hadn’t seen in a long time, but with all the surprises still intact: I couldn’t remember what had driven Hugh and Joscelyn apart, I couldn’t remember how Donna and Peter finally overcame her father, Drowned John’s, refusal to let them marry; and I couldn’t quite remember what happened to Gay Penhallow – though I was pretty sure she did end up with thirty-year-old Roger, the clan doctor (rest assured, it’s not as Jane Austen as it sounds – Gay is no Mariane Dashwood).
There are of course A LOT of characters to keep track of, and at first they tend to blend one into another (for instance, there are two Penny Darks: one is the bachelor and the other is Joscelyn’s sister-in-law), and it doesn’t help that they go by the old naming conventions (e.g. “Mrs Frank Dark”); you’d think it would but it doesn’t.
But Montgomery focuses on the main characters, and since the novel takes place over about a year and a half, we get to know characters, progress somewhat with their story, then come back to them later, so you do get very familiar with them – and like I said, they start to feel like your own crazy extended family! Montgomery is so good at writing these character sketches (one has only to read those scenes set around the dinner table at family gatherings in The Blue Castle to get a sense for it), that for all their eccentricities you have to wonder just how many of them were based on real people Montgomery knew.
The pacing is wonderful: brisk and rolling like gentle hills, here getting dramatic, then slowing down again for a spell, a breather, before dashing off into a new plot. Perhaps the most tragic character for me was little Brian Dark, whose mother, Laura, died when he was young, never revealing who the father was, so that Brian lives with his uncle Duncan Dark and his family, barely fed or clothed and given endless chores, mostly to look after the dairy cows. It broke my heart a little bit, especially now that I have my own little boy.
The story is told with Montgomery’s usual insightful wit and honesty, and an artist’s touch: she knew when to get in there and strip a character bare, and when to hold back and let things reveal themselves to the observant reader, on their own. I should add a warning for American readers: the final sentence does include the “n-word”, which should be taken in the context of the period it was written in, as well as the character who uses it – don’t let it put you off this author, who weaves magic with her words in the simplest, most unpretentious ways.
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Other Reviews:
“I love how Montgomery tells stories and I think she did a great job here tangling up a variety of life situations and then slowly, piece by piece, makes sense of it all. Her humor runs rampant through the book.” Reading to Know
Missed yours? Leave me a link and I’ll add it.
 Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
Jessica Darling #1
Three Rivers Press 2001
Large Format Paperback
280 pages
YA Fiction
It’s New Year’s Day and fifteen-going-on-sixteen year old Jessica Darling is starting a journal to chronicle her year, beginning with Hope, her best friend, moving away to Tennessee and leaving Jessica feeling essentially friendless. She hangs out with a group of girls at her high school that she and Hope had christened the Clueless Crew – for good reason. With no one to talk to and share in her sense of humour, she feels doomed to a year of mindless adolescence.
But a few freak and random interactions with the school’s resident druggie (or “Dreg”), Marcus Flutie, has her head in a whirl. And when he returns in September, the start of the new school year, apparently drug-free, cleaned up and studying hard, she’s burning with curiosity. But it’s when Marcus pursues a friendship with Jess that she really starts to feel like she’s found someone who understands her, like Hope does. But Marcus was once friends with Hope’s older brother Heath – before Heath died of a drug overdose. Telling Hope that she’s now friends with a boy who was part of Heath’s self-destructive lifestyle isn’t something she feels she can do, and she certainly can’t tell the Clueless Crew. And what if Jess wants more than just friendship? It’s a year of change, in more ways than one, for intelligent, articulate and funny Jessica Darling.
This book was first published in 2001 and, reading it in 2012, it’s amazing how much it feels a bit like reading a book set in the 80s – as in, things have changed more than we realise. While some of the cultural references were over my head, we get enough American TV, music and movies in Australia that I wasn’t completely lost, but I did stumble at the beginning. And with the references to things like the Y2K bug and Palm Pilots (whatever happened to those?!), it has an almost quaint feel to it – hence that feeling of reading a book set in a different era.
But Palm Pilots aside, this story of life for a middle class American teen will take much longer to feel at all dated. For a start, Jessica’s interactions and growing friendship with Marcus felt eerily familiar, and disconcertingly – but enjoyably – realistic. That is exactly how it goes! Though I still think that all these thoughtful, sensitive and loving boys in YA fiction aren’t really representative, but that’s beside the point.
Once you get on board with the fact that Jessica Darling sounds like an Aaron Sorkin character, her witty and clever voice is one to love. She even got me to laugh, and I had no trouble connecting with her emotionally. So much so that when the book ended I had to go online and order the next three! (The fifth can come later.) Her observations cut right to the heart of adolescent life (give or take a few cultural differences):
After work [...], Burke drove us over to the stretch of beach where the festivities were taking place. We got there around midnight. The fiesta was clearly in its early stages, as there was an even one-to-one ratio of people to beer cans scattered on the sand. Plus, the sexes had yet to mingle. Giggly girls clung in clumps, clutching plastic cups and beer cans kindly provided by members of the opposite sex who wanted to get in their pants. Packs of guys pounded each other in the arm, pointing out the girls whose pants they wanted to get into. We may be in high school, but until everyone is wasted these shindigs are as boy-girl segregated as a kindergarten birthday party. When the sexes interface, that’s when you know things are getting really messy. [p.154]
It says something that my biggest disappointment about this book was Jessica’s casual reference to flushing tampons down the toilet (incidentally, I recently read Fifty Shades of Grey which also included a flushed tampon – I was surprised at how instant and strong my anger was). Jessica’s a wonderful character, with a strong and distinct voice, and Marcus is someone I eagerly want to get to know better. I spent a lot of the novel feeling pissed off at Jessica’s parents – made me feel like a teenager! – but there’s such a glaring disconnect between them and their daughter, it made me sad, doubly so because they’re also presented as pretty normal parents.
If you’re looking for something fun, funny, intelligent and emotionally engaging, this is definitely the book for you.
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Other Reviews:
Missed yours? Leave me a link and I’ll add it.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week there’s a different topic to inspire a top ten list and this week’s topic is our:
Top Ten All Time Favourite Characters in Books
I’ve always missed these kinds of themes in the past, and to be honest I always have a hard time thinking on the spot – I probably should have started this one months ago. But here we are, Monday night, and I’m hoping to compile a list in the next half hour so I still have time to relax on the couch and read. Which means I’ll be visiting everyone’s blogs going “oh man, I can’t believe I forgot her/him!” Ah well.
I think what I need to do right now is close my eyes and see what names swim to the surface…
 1. Elspeth Gordie, from the Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody
A top ten list isn’t a top ten list without some Carmody in there somewhere!  The main character from my favourite fantasy series is someone I’ve always felt close to. She’s a fairly subtle character – or that’s how I remember her anyway – and gifted: she’s telepathic, coercive (can control the minds of others, to a degree), can communicate with animals and… wait, there was another one wasn’t there? Just as well I’ll be re-reading the series this year with the Obernewtyn Chronicles Readalong, starting in June.
 2. The Big Friendly Giant, from The BFG by Roald Dahl
This was one of the first Dahl books I ever read – I’m thinking grade 3 – and I’ll always have a big soft spot for the Big Friendly Giant and Sophie. He’s not only a friendly giant, he makes up wonderful new words too! I always felt safe when he was around.
 3. Jane & Mr Rochester, from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
I’m putting the two of them together because, well, they belong together! (Awwwwww… ) Seriously though, while I’ve always found Rochester to be the epitome of the male romantic lead (he ticks all the boxes, or should I say he inspired all the boxes?), Jane was someone who I always liked immensely. Since I first read it at the age of 11, I felt like Jane was someone who understood my love of books, reading and letting the imagination free – understood and encouraged it.
 4. Aslan, from the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
No link for this one because it’s been years since I read these books, but I love them a lot and could never forget them if I tried (definitely on my mental to-be-re-read list). Aslan was always that beloved character who, aside from being really freakin’ cool, made you feel like everything was going to be okay when he turned up. I know he’s an allegory for God but as a child I never noticed that, he was more of a protector in the fantasy and family sense. I could have gone with one of the other characters just as easily, but I haven’t the room.
 5. Edmond Dantes, from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Oh what can I say about this character that could possibly encompass all he is? He is the good and loving man, the betrayed man, the wronged man, the man who works tirelessly to effect an impossible escape, who plots revenge like you’ve never plotted. He changes so much, and in a way comes across as a superhero – this elusive Batman-like figure, sexy as sin. Not that this is a romance, no, but it is a deep and involved adventure and Dantes has the charisma to carry it on his (broad and manly) shoulders the whole way through.
 6. Miranda, from Maledicte by Lane Robins
Miranda is Maledicte – she undergoes a transformation from beautiful city urchin and thief to slightly androgynous male courtier in order to find her lover, Janus, bastard son of a nobleman who was kidnapped off the streets and groomed for a new position. Maledicte is a splendid case of split personality – or actually, that’s not really fair, she makes a pact with a blood-thirsty god and it changes her. She’s a fascinating character, and it’s easy to forget sometimes that she’s a woman.
 7. Ellie, from the Tomorrow series by John Marsden
The way I see it is, Ellie was the original strong, resourceful, independent female YA role model. She narrates the series as she’s considered “the writer” amongst the group of teens who return from a camping weekend in the bush to find their small town – and the entire country – occupied by (unnamed) enemy forces. She writes down everything they go through and her voice is compelling, as are the intense events they live through. And some of them don’t. If you haven’t read this series yet, god, what are you waiting for?! If you have any love for YA at all, you have no excuse not to read this series!
 8. Audrey Flowers (and Winnifred), from Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
Fantastic character and a fantastic book. It’s hard to come across original characters I think, but Audrey – or “Oddly” as she’s nicknamed – is definitely one of them. She is a bit odd, and has a pet tortoise called Winnifred who could also have made this list of favourite characters, as she narrates some parts and is such a superb character! This was one of my favourite books read in 2010 and is one of those rare books I just want to squeeze to my chest with bared-teeth grin and make that noise people make when they cuddle babies. Lots of love of Audrey and Winnifred from me. 
 9. Charlotte, from Charlotte’s Web by EB White
This story always made me cry, yet I’d always go back and read it again. I loved Wilbur the pig, but it was Charlotte and her generosity, her love, and her cleverness that really drew me in. And oh! the ending, it would break my heart a little bit each and every time. I think I saw Charlotte as a surrogate mother, or representing my own mother – someone who would watch over you and protect you (and save you from being eaten!), so I never wanted her, Charlotte, to leave. Except she had no choice, it was her time. I learnt that lesson many times when I was little, living on a farm, but it was never an easy one.
 10. Bones, from the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost
Mmmmm Bones…. While he is also here as my place-holder for all the other sexy, charismatic vampire leads – Edward (Twilight), Eric (Sookie) etc. – that there just wasn’t room for (as well as the non-vampire, or female, ones), he’s definitely here in his own right. It’s hard to pick a favourite paranormal character but this list wouldn’t be honest or complete without one, so I pick Bones. As much as the series has been disappointing of late, Bones is still a character I gravitate to.
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How about you? What are your all-time favourite fictional characters?
 Sweet Addiction by Maya Banks
Sweet #6
Heat 2012
Trade Paperback
330 pages
Erotic Romance
Ten years after Cole Madison left the woman he loved, Ren, he never thought he’d see her again and have the chance to be with her again. His guilt over hurting her as they explored their needs and desires as young adults in a Dominant/submissive relationship has stayed with him, though he’s long since acquired the skill and experience to be a true Dominant. So when he hears her laugh in a restaurant, it’s the shock of his life. But nothing can compare to the agony of seeing her as the submissive to another man, Lucas Holt.
Things have changed for both Cole and Ren since their passionate relationship all those years ago, but their love for each other hasn’t diminished. Ren has moved on and, after a series of failed submissive relationships with dominant men – or men who liked to play at the role – she has finally found the peace and balance she’s been looking for, in Lucas. They understand each other, she trusts him as she’s never trusted any other man – except Cole. But seeing Cole again has unsettled her, and in an attempt to help her Lucas makes an arrangement with Cole, his rival: Cole can have Ren for two weeks, after which time Ren will have to choose between them.
It’s a cruel bargain, and Ren feels the betrayal keenly. Spending intimate time with Cole as his submissive only makes her more confused as to what she should do, who she should be with. And having two alpha males pulling her in different directions doesn’t help in the slightest. Neither man is willing to let her go, but surely one of them must.
I’m normally very generous towards the books in this series – only one of them have I completely and genuinely enjoyed. The others I tend to go easy on because there are some things I like about them and I am still reading them, after all. This sixth book in the series was one I was very much looking forward to: every second book is about a BDSM relationship, and readers of the series were all anticipating Cole’s story. When he took an active role in a previous book, everything pointed to him being a much more reserved, colder master than he appeared here: I thought I knew him but he turned into one big mushy marshmallow. There’s a lot of talk about Ren needing a “hard” master – “don’t go easy on her, she won’t thank you for it,” Lucas keeps telling Cole – but little evidence of it. Cole was not the man I thought he was going to be, and yes that did disappoint me.
Not that I didn’t like him, as he is. But this particular volume, unlike the other two BDSM novels in the series, skated not so much to the edge but to the carpark farther back, dallied a bit and then went home. What I mean is that, it promised big but didn’t even try to deliver the intensity and strong BDSM that Banks is quite capable of.
Instead, Sweet Addiction spends a great deal of time mentally ruminating. There’s a lot of introspective thought and reflection, rehashing past events, analysing emotions, and being generally self-indulgent to the point where there’s little else going on. And these are short books that read fast, so there’s not much room to spare. (Just to show how different all readers are, other reviewers noted the opposite: too much sex and not enough time getting to know the characters and exploring their feelings!) Our level of enjoyment often comes down to expectations, and because I was expecting something as hard-core as Sweet Persuasion (my favourite) and Sweet Temptation, and because I expected to find Cole much less “sweet” and more hard-edged, the book as a whole fell short. In truth, it’s more like a nice blend of the sweeter books in the series, and those two hard-core ones. But like Ren, I didn’t want “sweet”.
In regards to Lucas, I was confused at first as to why so much attention was being focused on him, but not for long – it was a bit of a big fat hint as to how the book would end, so there was very minimal tension in regards to the story’s conflict – another disappointment. Lucas was a tricky character: at first he is the Other Man, the one we feel Cole has to triumph over, and so we’re looking for signs of neglect, cruelty, disregard etc. And at first it seems like we get all that – but it’s an illusion, if it’s there at all. I did come to like him a great deal, especially once he admitted his mistake in making the decision for Ren to send her to Cole for two weeks. I can like him for it because I could understand what he was trying to do, and believe that he only did it because he genuinely thought it would help Ren. And Lucas was a distinct character, even if his style of sex was a lot similar to Cole’s.
Though, speaking of the sex, is it just me or is it totally distracting to have sex scenes in, for example, a women’s upscale clothing shop – even if it has been closed and the saleswoman paid to look the other way, those shops always have cameras. Details like this always intrude for me and “spoil the moment” – yeah I’m the classic over-thinker. The sex has to be “real” though, it has to be possible, and too often romance books discard the hidden logistics simply for effect.
As for Ren, she was a bit of a nonentity. A woman to admire, yes – sexually confident, but demure rather than loud and brash, and artistic – but the trouble with meeting a character during a rough time is that they come with a lot of second-guessing, and it gets tiresome. She was a woman who knew exactly what she wanted in a relationship, and what she needed, and never beat herself up over it or felt ashamed. I loved that about her – she’s a strong female lead in that way. But as a person she was a bit little-girl-cutesy, or at least, that’s how she came across (maybe that’s just how the men see her, but actually it was strongest when we’re inside her head). So she was a bit flat and two-dimensional.
Having read two other books by Banks that feature three men and a woman, I wasn’t surprised in the least as to the direction this novel took – out of six Sweet books, one of them was bound to go there (and like I said above, spending so much time on Lucas and his inner thoughts and feelings, was a big fat arrow pointing in that direction, so I don’t think I could “spoil” it if I tried). I’m not entirely sold on it working, but it was the solution that worked for these characters.
Overall, I’m glad Banks wrote this and gave us the chance to find out Cole’s story, because we’ve long been wondering. But it wasn’t the intense, OOMPH-full novel to end the series that I had hoped for and expected, and that’s largely my own fault. Maybe it should have come earlier on, maybe not. It’s got plenty of spice, lots of chemistry and two sexy male leads who know how to satisfy a woman; in that regard, it was a successful romance novel.
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Other Reviews:
Yummy Men, Kick Ass Chicks
Happily Ever After
Kaetrin’s Musings
Missed yours? Leave me a link and I’ll add it.
 The Maladjusted by Derek Hayes
Thistledown Press 2011
Trade Paperback
203 pages
Fiction; Short Stories
The characters in Derek Hayes’ collection of sixteen short stories are true representatives of modern society in a western culture: neurotic, obsessive, manic depressive, paranoid, or just a little bit off. From the diagnosed mentally ill Mike who hibernates in his apartment, venturing out to go to the food mart or to collect other people’s discarded furniture (which, one time, he turned into a wall in the middle of his living room); to the immigrant teacher’s assistant who takes over disciplining the class; to Max who is sure that Chris is seducing his girlfriend away from him. From overweight and shy Melanie who develops a crush on the waiter at the Chinese restaurant; to engineering graduate Russell who can barely leave his room but is sent on holiday to Vietnam by his mum; to Alan who is obsessing over the hair growing on his girlfriend’s upper lip:
Yesterday evening my thoughts started to be more obsessive – I wanted to broach the subject, but didn’t because I’d hurt Carol’s feelings. I went back and forth in my head, rehearsing the conversation. She had no idea what was going on, but she could sense my anxiety. I grabbed her and kissed her on the lips to prove to myself that it was no big deal. I’d shaved assiduously that evening so as not to confuse my bristles with hers. I held her face, venturing my upper lip on hers, at first certain that I indeed did detect the wispy hairs, but when I pulled away I was less sure and wanted to kiss her again, but she pulled back. I wondered if she were tiring of me, but just for a second, because her moustache once again infiltrated my thoughts. [p.125]
While some of the characters were noticeably odd and diagnosable, what really appealed to me about these stories was how normal the people really were. Whether that’s a sign of “the way our society is going”, I very much doubt it; I think we’ve always been this way, or have for a long time, thus rendering the very word “normal” or “sane” useless. This isn’t a new debate, or question or theme, but Hayes presents so many different – and at times subtle – perspectives on what being mentally unbalanced – or mentally balanced – really is, that the question’s inherent ridiculousness becomes apparent. Maybe it is indicative of our times, and how alienating our society and urban lifestyle really is: how nuts we can go, and in what mundane ways. This has become an interesting topic for me since moving to Toronto six years ago.
I doubt very much that there isn’t a character here that every reader can relate to, in some way. Across sixteen stories that touch on everything from relationships to the decline of the small Ontario town, a vivid montage, or collage, of life and living comes into being. Two of the stories are about men living in Taiwan and Turkey, working as English teachers – right there I had something to relate to, especially the Taiwanese one which bore some resemblance to my time living in Japan as an English teacher (people coming from Australia, Canada, the UK and the U.S. – many of whom are oddballs on a good day – thrown together and with enhanced superiority complexes, leads to some interesting dynamics); but most of the stories are set in Ontario. I certainly enjoy reading stories set in the city where I currently live (Toronto), and I feel that I can pick up on an extra layer of nuance because of it (the stories feel and sound so very Canadian, and so very Torontonian), but that doesn’t mean someone else would feel alienated, not at all.
Each story is a character study, a slice or glimpse into a life (although two stories that come to mind take place over several decades), and as such are subtle explorations into the psyche. Characters and their neuroses are presented as true-to-life, honest and naked; absent is any kind of moralising or judging voice, which would have tarnished and diminished every character here. Hayes has a knack for honing in on how people tick, and illuminating those everyday, seemingly trivial moments in life that collect and build up to flesh out our lives.
Yet none of these characters are going through anything trivial. Our lives are the most important thing to us, and our delusions and neuroses are part of that. The impact of each of these stories on the reader will vary for each of us, often depending on how well we relate to the character studies and settings, so the stories that were strong for me might not be strong for others. They are all quite different and cover such a broad range of characters that I doubt you would struggle to connect with none of them. Some, like “The Revisionist”, were sad – I could picture Jim on the TTC so clearly, having ridden it with people like that (or who seem “like that” but how can you know, really?). My personal favourites are “The Runner”, “The Maladjusted”, “Maybe You Should Get Back There”, “Green Jerseys” and “The Lover”, though most of them I liked a great deal. They are each of them at times quirky, funny, sad and always insightful.
I just have to end this with a comment on the cover, which I love: it’s just perfect for the book and speaks so clearly does it not? The one ant who deviates from the assembly line – maladjusted or simply unique? Even the off-centre bullseye/pupil/ball – I’m not even sure what it is but it doesn’t even matter, it too is reflective (though also, from a graphic design point of view, artistically grounding the overall cover design). Bravo Jackie Forrie (cover designer)!
My thanks to the author for a copy of this book.
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Other Reviews:
“THE MALADJUSTED is short stories like I love to read them. A collection focused around certain themes, heading in a clear direction and most important, it’s bold as hell. While Derek Hayes doesn’t hit the mark with every story, it’s not because he doesn’t try.” Dead End Follies
“Whether it’s due to mental illness, physical abnormality or just an overabundance of ego, Hayes has captured the idiosyncrasies perfectly. Each of the characters are crafted brilliantly and believably — a true accomplishment.” Gin & Rhetoric
“That Hayes could make me open to such existential pondering with seemingly straightforward stories [...] is another testament to the strength of his writing.” The Book Mine Set
Missed yours? Leave me a link and I’ll add it.
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~ SHANNON 
giraffedays@gmail.com
FEATURED POSTS Fancy Words for the Sophisticated Reader
The most popular post on this blog is also the one I thought would be the most boring when I wrote it. Just goes to show what I know!
Dystopian Fiction: What is it Really?
With the glut of so-called dystopian fiction on the YA market lately, it’s clear that many publishers are throwing the label around willy-nilly, perhaps because it sounds better than “post-apocalyptic science fiction”, which is what most of these books really are. But what IS a dystopia, really?
Review: The Droughtlanders
One of the best YA novels – and the start of a trilogy – I’ve read in recent years, this book doesn’t get the readership it truly deserves.
Pet Peeve: “But Nowhere Yet Such Horsemen Have I Seen”
I’m reading along, enjoying a story, and then what do I come across but this: “He squeezed his knees to urge the horse to a trot/canter/gallop” and so on. Horse riding is like any other element of a book: if you’re going to include it, at least do your research!
Review: A Game of Thrones
Read the review that began the hate mail on Goodreads – without the mail.
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