The Good Sister, by Jamie Kain

The Good Sister by Jaime Kain has been described (on Goodreads) as "The Fault in Our Stars meets The Lovely Bones," and I feel that is an apt assessment of this sad, but oh-so-good page turner. There's also a bit of We Were Liars mixed in.

The Kinseys are the picture-perfect example of a dysfunctional family. There's the former hippie mom who is determined to hold onto her flower-child roots. The former-hippie-now-reformed (but also absent) father. Sarah, Rachel, and Asha grew up in this crazy, messed-up household where the normal rules of the world didn't really apply. Despite the so-called "mellow" vibe of their California community, no one in the Kinsey household is really happy.

And ever since Sarah died, things have been even worse. Sarah, the "good" sister of the title, was the glue that held the family together. She was the sun the rest orbited around, built their lives around. With her gone, everything falls apart.

A lifelong leukemia patient, Sarah knew early death was almost a certainty. Everyone knew it was coming. Just not like this. Not in a hiking "accident" that may not have been all that accidental. Told from the three sisters' alternating viewpoints (with Sarah's perspective from the afterlife bringing an element of magical realism to the story), the true story gradually unfolds, uncensored. And it is a truth that's painful and far more complex and convoluted than the reader could imagine. Everyone's secrets come spilling out, and no one is who they first appear to be. 

Especially Sarah. Saintly, golden Sarah.

Saintly? Yeah right!

To say more would give too much away.

The Good Sister can currently be found on our New Book Shelf. Read it if you're looking for a complex mystery that will keep you guessing until the end. 

Definitely recommended! --AJB

Second Star, by Alyssa Sheinmel

Fairy Tale retellings can be very tricky, particularly ones reworked so they are set in modern day. Sometimes they work (as in Alex Flinn's Beastly), other times not so well. An example of the later is Alyssa Sheinmel's Peter Pan reboot, Second Star. 

At the opening of this story, we meet recent high school grad and Good Girl Wendy Darling. Wendy's twin brothers (Michael and John), both die-hard surfers, disappeared several months earlier. Pieces of their surfboards were found shortly after a huge swell swept up the coast, creating larger than normal waves (even for winter). Everyone but Wendy believes the boys drowned, even though no bodies were found. So after graduation, Wendy sets off to investigate and see if she can't find her brothers and bring them home. Instead she discovers an almost magical beach where the waves are always perfect. Here lives Pete and a group of homeless teens who spend their days surfing and stealing supplies from nearby McMansions. Wendy lies to her parents, saying she's going on a road trip with her BFF, and moves in with Pete and crew. Wendy develops a crush on the charismatic Pete... But she also falls for Jas, a local bad-boy-who-wants-to-be-good sort. Jas makes a living selling a hallucinogen called "Dust," and claims to know the whereabouts of her brothers. Wendy and Jas take off up the coast, chasing a storm that will bring unseasonably large waves. If Michael and John are anywhere, they'll be there when the waves hit. They find the beach, but not the brothers. Wendy and Jas rendezvous with Pete & Co. and take a boat out to catch the waves...and Wendy almost drowns.

She wakes up days later tied to a bed in the psych ward of the hospital... And here's where things get confusing. 

The reader learns that Wendy was found, bruised but otherwise physically OK, nowhere near the beach she claims to have traveled to with Jas. Her parents and doctors tell her that she must have hallucinated the whole adventure and everyone in it. The reason for this is Wendy apparently took an odd cocktail of drugs that combined to cause her "trip." Evidence suggests otherwise, though. Wendy can suddenly surf like a pro (before she couldn't). And near the end she anonymously receives a photo of the boys she fell for. And this is where the author left things. 

I did like the whole summery, dreamlike quality to the story. And the idea was a good one. Unfortunately, the execution was sloppy. The ending confusing.

Before diving into Second Star, know this: The story does require a good deal of suspension of belief in addition to the typical fairy tale elements. For example, what parents would allow their 17-year-old daughter to take off to do who knows what for weeks at a time--especially one as supposedly unstable as Wendy? Also, it is unclear at the end whether Wendy's whole adventure was imagined (as her parents and doctors claim), really happened (as the photo of Pete and the gang she receives at the end suggests), or a combination of the two. And if the adventure did indeed happen, why did Wendy's family, friends, and doctors tell her otherwise? If they want her to heal properly, wouldn't they be honest with her? Nothing really lines up properly.  Also, if the author wanted to add the "she just imagined the whole thing" twist, it could have been done better. The way it was, it seemed too rushed and, well, cliche.

If you're looking for a good magical realism story, there are better options. Ask the on-duty librarian for recommendations :)

AJB

Belzhar, by Meg Wolitzer

What if you wanted something so badly, you actually convinced yourself it was reality? Meg Wolitzer explores this in her addicting novel Belzhar.

After her boyfriend, Reeve, died, Jam was inconsolable...so her parents sent her to The Wooden Barn, a boarding school in Vermont that's sort of a halfway house for emotionally damaged teens who aren't crazy enough for the psych ward (but are too fragile to mix with regular society). Jam obviously doesn't want to be there. She wants to be with Reeve. But Reeve is dead, and they can never be together again.

Or can they?

Jam is stunned when she is one of five students selected for Special Topics English, taught by the mysterious Mrs. Quenell. Everyone who has ever taken the class has claimed it changed their lives, but have remained secretive about the details. So Jam goes, not knowing what to expect.

What happens as a result of this exclusive membership is she and the other Special Topics students are allowed limited entry into the magical world they dub "Belzhar." This is a place they can go where the terrible thing that happened to them, the terrible thing that put them in The Wooden Barn, never happened and life is as it should be. For Jam, this means she can be with Reeve again. But she soon discovers they can only relive past memories. They can't create any new experiences. And she can never stay for very long. But this is enough for her.

As Jam and her classmates approach their last visit to Belzhar, they learn the truth about the place: That Belzhar gives them what they want to see...but it also reveals the truth about their trauma, the parts they blocked out the first time around. That during their final visit, they must re-live every sordid and terrible detail of the worst experience of their lives. This means Jam must re-live Reeve's death and face the awful, psyche-scarring truth about what really happened that day.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from Belzhar. I'd picked it up because I'd read a fabulous review that revealed just enough to spark my curiosity...but didn't give it all away. And it was good. Very, very good. Unusual, but very good...and I kept reading. I wanted to know what happened as much as the characters did.

Yes, there was a bit of a twist at the end (no spoilers). Not one that put my jaw in my lap, but still one that surprised me and changed the way I felt about Jam. Previous to the twist, I had felt a twinge of sympathy for her, certainly, but that was it. After all, she seemed to be getting better. Then the twist...and I realized how sick and twisted she really was. Far beyond what I first believed. 

Confused? Curious? 

Read the book. --AJB

Even in Paradise, by Chelsea Philpot

I initially picked up Chelsea Philpot's Even in Paradise because I was desperately looking for a read-alike for We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, a book I devoured earlier this year and have ever since been seeking something of comparable awesomeness. Even in Paradise seemed like it had promise for that (maybe it was the cover similarities). 

Paradise did have some striking similarities to Lockhart's masterpiece (If Liars were to have be told from an outsider's point of view), but it also reminded me a lot of Perks of Being A Wallflower in that the narrator recounts an almost magical time in her life when she was swept into a golden world by friends who are too good to be true.

Unlike most of the students who attend St. Anne's, Charlotte is fairly normal and relatable: She's not rich or the daughter of someone famous. She doesn't wear expensive clothes or have an impressive (or infamous) background. She's a scholarship student, studies art, and is friendly with most but has no best friend. She's normal. And kind of boring.

That all changes the night she saves a very intoxicated Julia Buchanan from being busted for underage drunkenness, a behavior that would surely cause the girl to be expelled. From that point, Julia takes Charlotte ("Charlie") under her wing and introduces her to a world of beautiful things and beautiful people. Charlotte is charmed and awed. And she's more than a little bit in love with Julia's brother, Sebastian. It was the magical sort of friendship Charlotte always dreamed about but never expected to personally encounter.

But not all is as golden as Charlotte first believes.

On the surface, the Buchanan family seems the picture of perfection: Beautiful, rich, privileged, famous, and always smiling in the spotlight. But beneath all that gloss and glitter lurks a dark tragedy: Years ago, Julia Buchanan, her sister Augustine ("Gus"), and Gus's boyfriend , David, were in an auto accident. Julia walked away with only bruises. Gus and David weren't so lucky. 

This is something Julia was up front about right away. 

The twist, the truth no one knows (or will admit to), is this: Julia, then 14, had actually been the one behind the wheel on that fateful night...and the guilt that she was responsible for the two deaths has been eating away at her ever since. 

In a perfect storybook ending, Charlotte would help Julia overcome the tragedy. She would be the rock while her friend healed and got past the guilt and sorrow. And the two of them would grow closer because of it and become lifelong friends.

But this is not a perfect storybook ending. Julia is too broken for such a recovery. And instead of trying to face her guilt and the tragedy, she distances herself from everything and everyone that reminds her of it. And that includes distancing herself Charlotte. 

The ending is not a happy one. It's messy, it's cruel, but it's also realistic. Sometimes friendships last, but quite often they don't. Sometimes there is a falling out. Sometimes people grow apart. And sometimes there is no explanation for why a friendship ends. It just does.

But there's also hope for a new (albeit different) beginning. The reader knows Charlotte will be OK despite everything.

So was Even in Paradise the We Were Liars read-alike I was hoping for? No. Not quite. Not even close. I guessed the twist early on. In fact, I guessed it the first time Julia and Charlotte ever talked about the accident. There were no jaw-in-my-lap surprise endings that left me with that "OMG!" feeling long after I finished the last page. 

But I really liked Even in Paradise even though it wasn't what I was hoping for. I liked it for it's own awesome qualities: The characters and the ways their relationships developed... that hazy, nostalgic quality to the narration that made everything that happened to her seem almost too good to be true... The way the plot was built. 

Definitely recommended! --AJB

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me, by Julie Anne Peters

Alix thought she and her girlfriend, Swanee, were destined to spend the rest of their lives together. They'd go to the same college after graduation, get an apartment (or a house), and live happily ever after. Then Swanee dies suddenly, leaving Alix grief-stricken and disbelieving. She's not sure how she's supposed to go on. Swanee was everything.

But things go from bad to worse for Alix when she goes up to Swanee's room after the funeral, finds Swanee's phone, and discovers someone named Liana has been texting Swanee...and continues to do so as she stands there, phone in hand. These are not the sort of texts you send to a friend or family member. They're the sort you send to someone you like (love?) in that way. Not stopping to think, Alix pockets the phone. Before long, she's struck up a tentative texting conversation with Liana. Then the two girls begin meeting up and talking about things... And they discover that Swanee hadn't been honest with either of them. About A LOT of things. 

Over the next several weeks, Liana and Alix try to come to terms with Swanee's death and how she played them both. What they didn't expect to come out of this tragedy, this betrayal, was a friendship. Maybe more.

Author Julie Anne Peters always writes a good story, and Lies My Girlfriend Told Me is no exception to this rule. Not your traditional romance, but still real. The connection between Liana and Alix felt very natural. No Insta-(gag me)-Love here. A solid friendship with the promise (maybe) of more. Characters were developed and the storyline unfolded with no lulls or slow spots.

Recommended. --AJB

Love Letters to the Dead

Ava Dellaira's Love Letters to the Dead has gotten a lot of positive hype lately (I've even heard it billed as the next Perks of Being a Wallflower). While it does share some similarities with Perks--the narrator is dealing with the death of someone close to her as well as other other uncomfortable things that are hard to talk about, she makes some wild and crazy friends who both help her and show her the dark side of life--it doesn't quite pack the same punch.

In Love Letters to the Dead, Laurel's older sister, May, recently died--and she believes it's her fault. After all, she was there when it happened. In the months leading up to her death, May took living on the wild side to the extreme, dating much older men, partying, drinking, etc. Sometimes she would take Laurel with her, and that's how certain things happened (sorry, no spoilers). At the beginning of the school year following the tragedy, Laurel's English teacher assigns the class to write a letter to a dead person. Laurel picks Kurt Cobain, May's favorite musician. Over the year, Laurel writes about her life drama to Kurt. She also writes to Amy Winehouse, E.E. Cummings, Judy Garland, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Jim Morrison, and a few other dead celebs and historical figures. Eventually, through her letters, Laurel confesses what happened the night May died and what happened to her. Big Plot Reveals that are easy to guess beforehand, if you're paying the least bit of attention.

The concept of Love Letters to the Dead is intriguing. Unfortunately, the execution didn't go as well as I'd hoped. Laurel had so many dead pen pals it was difficult to keep track of who she was writing to (is this letter to Kurt or Amy or Judy or someone else?). This required frequent backtracking, and that interrupted the flow of the story, making it difficult to stay invested. I found that really frustrating, and if you're the sort who likes to get fully lost in a book, you'll likely be frustrated by it as well. The story would have worked better had the author stuck to one or two dead people. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, Love Letters to the Dead was about a 6. Good, but not fantastic.--AJB

Letters to their teen selves

Dear Teen Readers,

Ok, so maybe right now something completely traumatic just happend and your life is, like, totally over. Maybe you discovered your crush (that girl or guy you thought was The One) likes someone else. Maybe you're in danger of failing gym class. Maybe there's stuff going on at home you'd rather not talk about (or even think about). Maybe you're having trouble with a bully (or are a bully). Maybe you're having an identity crisis. Or maybe you did something totally dumb and embarassing and now the news is all over school and all over facebook and now the whole world knows about it and you just want to crawl into a dark corner and die because, of course, you can't face anyone.

Think you're alone in your misery?

Think again. You're not. We've all been there. Many times. Trust me.

Your favorite authors were once teenagers too. And they faced many of the same issues you face on a daily basis. In Dear Teen Me, authors like Ellen Hopkins, Lauren Oliver, Sara Zarr and more pen letters to their teenage selves. These letters cover a variety of topics that are sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartfelt, and sometimes heartbreaking, each one bringing a new, more mature perspective to whatever issue is at hand. Too bad their teenage selves couldn't really read them.

So if you ever wished you could flash forward to adulthood and put the trauma of your teenage life behind you (and, really, who hasn't), this book is for you! 

Best of Luck

OPLTeenReader

Love Can Be Scary

Jackson is dead, and Ava can't let go of him. When she's asleep, he's all she dreams of. But soon he intrudes her waking life as well: She catching glimpses of him in the corner of her eye and could swear she hears him talking to her inside her head. The reader soon learns the accident that caused Jackson's demise was Ava's fault--or, at least, she thinks it's her fault. So is Jackson's ghost really back to torment Ava? Or is it just a manifestation of the guilt she feels? Either way, Ava must find a way to free herself and move on.

Although the cover image makes I Heart You, You Haunt Me appear to be a fluffy paranormal romance, this is not actually the case. This novel, written entirely in free verse, is the dark story of a teen attempting to cope with the death someone close to her. Kind of creepy, though, and definitely seasonally appropriate. --AJB

Beastly Summer

Jealousy is a terrible, monsterous thing. That summer, Tessa began to envy everything about her younger sister, Lulu--from Lulu's new shoes to the fact she began dating Tessa's crush. Then Lulu drowns in a freak accident, and Tessa blames herself. For everything: For Lulu's death, for her best friend's crippling accident, for her parents' sorrow... Surely the entire world sees her as a beast. It's how she sees herself. Read her story and decide: How do you see her?

The Year of the Beasts is a unique find. Text tells the story of the chain of events leading up to Lulu's drowning and alternating graphic novel pannels, portraying Tessa as she views herself, detail the aftermath. Not a happy story by any means (actually, parts are quite disturbing). But very worth checking out. --AJB