Book Reviews: The Pros of Cons by Alison Cherry, Lindsay Ribar & Michelle Schusterman and Trapped in Room 217 by Thomas Kingsley Troupe

The Pros of Cons
Alison Cherry, Lindsay Ribar & Michelle Schusterman
Point, March 2018
ISBN 978-1-338-15172-5
Hardcover

This quintessential Young Adult read is quirky, cubed. A mad mash-up of three (and a half) conventions under one roof results in a delightfully amusing tale that is not without substance. And it has a pretty great title, you know I love it when something can mean two things.

It isn’t Phoebe’s first time. She’s come before with her high-school percussion ensemble, to participate in the Indoor Percussion Association Convention. Perhaps there is a bit more pressure this time, though.

Vanessa is very excited to finally meet her girl-friend, face-to-face, for the first time. Sweetly naïve, she really does not know what to expect from the We Treasure Fandom con.

Callie came as her dad’s assistant for the World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championship, but she’s only here hoping he will see her as his daughter, instead.

The story starts properly, with a literal bang. A collision in the lobby leads to a shuffling and unnoticed exchanges of carrying cases. From that point forward, nothing goes as planned.

Phoebe finds that her mallet bag is actually filled with tools for Buchannan Taxidermy, definitely not the mallets she needs. But, she’s only thrown for a second. Since she has the xylophone solo, she has to improvise. She uses the scalpels.

Vanessa is feeling confused and out-of-place. People are different in real-life than online and she’s just beginning to figure that out.

Callie is bummed that her dad continues to treat her like a disappointing assistant, but when she realizes his cold-shoulder is just the tip of the ice-berg; she plots sweet, public revenge.

I learned a lot from The Pros of Cons. I hadn’t heard of half of the percussion instruments played, nor did I know that “critical listening” is different from “analytical listening. “Fan-fic” and “cons” were familiar terms, but I had no inkling of the depth. Or that it gave way to its own language. By the way, I also know what sock-puppeting means now. Oddly, I did know a bit about taxidermy.

Reviewed by jv poore, September 2018.

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Trapped in Room 217
Haunted States of America Series
Thomas Kingsley Troupe
Jolly Fish Press, September 2018
ISBN 978-1-63163-215-0
Hardcover

A father seldom has spare time when single-handedly raising a seventh-grade daughter and second-grade son. Jayla and Dion get that, and the late-night call did wake the whole house only hours ago. They won’t razz their dad, too much, just because the place they are staying during their impromptu Spring Break get-away doesn’t have a pool.

First sight of the historical hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, had them both second-guessing their generosity. Check-in was only slightly less than creepy. Jayla could not have imagined the murmurs when “Room 217” was spoken. But, The Stanley is beautiful and possibly interesting. Two bright and resourceful kids will find plenty to do. Although, assisting a spirit was not an item they would have imagined.

Seemingly strange occurrences compelled the siblings to research their current residence. After reviewing reading material spread throughout the common rooms, it was time to for a self-guided tour of the tantalizing tunnels below. There, Jayla and Dion may just be in over their heads.

I have always loved ghost-stories so, I was thrilled to hear about this historical-fiction series, The Haunted States of America by Thomas Kingsley Troupe. Trapped in Room 217 gave me exactly what I wanted. Cool characters (Dion packed his own suitcase, with books only, and he is my hero now) caught up in a mystery, moving at the perfect pace. Absolutely appropriate for younger readers, I will be introducing it to my favorite HS students because I believe they will dig it as much as I do.

Reviewed by jv poore, September 2018.

Book Review: Where Wicked Starts by Elizabeth Stuckey-French and Patricia Henley

Where Wicked Starts
Elizabeth Stuckey-French and Patricia Henley
Lacewing Books, October 2014
ISBN: 978-1-938126-26-0
Trade Paperback

We’ve heard how it takes a village to raise a child. In this book, it takes a screwed-up blended family to rescue one while doing some pretty meaningful healing in the process. Nick’s not over her mother’s death and struggles to hold on to good moments. Luna, her slightly older step-sister deals with her parents’ divorce by rebelling and doing risky stuff with boys to try and find happiness. While the two of them are pretty snarky to each other, it’s pretty easy to read between the lines and know they get emotional support from the process. Luna’s dad is an alcoholic con artist who has been promising different outcomes, but delivering the same disappointing results for ages.

When Nick’s dad married Luna’s mother, they uprooted the girls, moving them to Coquina Bay after selling the record store that was home to Nick where she was surrounded by classic rock and a happy cat. There was little or no thought to what the girls were leaving behind. As if being uprooted wasn’t bad enough, the newlyweds are rehabbing a decrepit place, hoping to turn it into a B&B. All Nick sees is her college money courtesy of Mom’s life insurance evaporating into the project.

When the stepsisters go to see a friend do her alligator act at a nearby park, Nick can’t help but notice a really creepy man who’s with a girl about her age. He touches her in inappropriate ways and she’s dressed as though she’s much older, not to mention acting like a zombie. It takes Nick a while to get Luna on board with her suspicion that the girl isn’t with this creep willingly, but once she does, things get really interesting.

By the time the story reaches its conclusion, Luna’s dad has finally come through, Nick’s grandmother has gotten in the act and the stepparents have come up for air and discovered that the girls might be more mature and responsible than they are.

This is not only a good YA mystery, but a good story for teens who have experienced family loss or dysfunction. It’s a smooth read with a cast of intriguing characters.

Reviewed by John R. Clark, MLIS, July 2016.

Book Review: Phantom Limbs by Paula Garner

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Title: Phantom Limbs
Author: Paula Garner
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: September 13, 2016
Genres: General Fiction, Young Adult

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Purchase Links:

             

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Phantom Limbs
Paula Garner
Candlewick Press, September 2016
ISBN 978-0763682057
Hardcover

From the publisher—

How do you move on from an irreplaceable loss? In a poignant debut, a sixteen-year-old boy must learn to swim against an undercurrent of grief—or be swept away by it.

Otis and Meg were inseparable until her family abruptly moved away after the terrible accident that left Otis’s little brother dead and both of their families changed forever. Since then, it’s been three years of radio silence, during which time Otis has become the unlikely protégé of eighteen-year-old Dara—part drill sergeant, part friend—who’s hell-bent on transforming Otis into the Olympic swimmer she can no longer be. But when Otis learns that Meg is coming back to town, he must face some difficult truths about the girl he’s never forgotten and the brother he’s never stopped grieving. As it becomes achingly clear that he and Meg are not the same people they were, Otis must decide what to hold on to and what to leave behind. Quietly affecting, this compulsively readable debut novel captures all the confusion, heartbreak, and fragile hope of three teens struggling to accept profound absences in their lives.

I read a lot of young adult fiction but much more of the action-oriented type—science fiction, mystery, thriller, horror, etc.—than general fiction or the angsty high school drama kind. I don’t mean to be the least bit disparaging about that last one; I just don’t have a better term for it. Anyway, my point is that Phantom Limbs isn’t my usual cuppa tea….and, yet, I was interested.

Now, I happen to believe there’s at least a slight thread of mystery in nearly all fiction, even if it’s just the mystery of why people do what they do. That’s certainly the case here and there are other mysteries such as what really happened to that little boy years ago and why did Meg’s family leave town, almost run away?

Three characters share center stage and, while the relationship between Otis and Meg is important, especially in whether they can, or should, try to resurrect it, it’s Dara who grabbed my attention and held it. At turns caring, dictatorial, abrasive,  encouraging, Dara has every reason to resent what’s happened to her but she chose to use her skills in the best way possible by training someone else to be a champion swimmer. Does Otis appreciate it? Maybe not as much as she would hope and, now, Meg is distracting him even more.

This is a story of terrible loss that causes worlds to fall apart and the love that can make things just a little better. While Dara, Otis and Meg are frequently at serious odds, they also have much in common in their perhaps subconscious quests for happiness, and their journeys towards the future kept me reading into the night. Paula Garner has a lovely and effective way with words and I hope to read much more by her.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, September 2016.

About the Author

Paula Garner spends most of her time making food, drinks, and narratives, despite being surrounded by an alarming TBR pile and a very bad cat. Her debut YA novel, Phantom Limbs, comes out from Candlewick in 2016. Paula is represented by Molly Jaffa of Folio Lit, and lives in the Chicago area with her family.

LINKS: Website | Twitter

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Follow the tour:

Week 1:
9/5: Such A Novel Idea – Guest Post
9/6: The Litaku – Review
9/7: The Irish Banana Review – Top 10
9/8: Pretty Deadly Reviews – Review
9/9: Resch Reads and Reviews – Guest Post

Week 2:

9/12: The Plot Bunny – Review

9/13: Go Read A Book – Q&A

9/14: Buried Under Books – Review

9/15: Novel Novice – Playlist

9/16: The Young Folks – Review

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Book Review: Willful Child by Steven Erikson and The White Ghost by James R. Benn

Willful Child
Steven Erikson
Tor, November 2014
ISBN 978-0-7653-7489-9
Hardcover

Star Trek meets Futurama in this sci fi send up by Steven Erickson, author of the Malagan Book of the Fallen series. Terran Space Fleet Captain Hadrian Alan Sawback, commander of the Engage class starship Willful Child, is on a routine shake down cruise in search of smugglers. His new crew includes Chief of Security, Adjutant Lorrin Tighe; Chief Medical Officer, a Belkri called Printlip, with six arms and three legs; the beautiful and dark-skinned First Commander Halley Sin-Dour; square jawed and buff Communications Lieutenant Jimmy Eden; Chief Engineer Buck DeFrank; Combat Specialist Galk, a Varekan; and clueless Lieutenant Jocelyn Sticks, who gushes, “Like, it’s all very exciting.” Upon reviewing his crew, Captain Sawbuck “wondered if selecting certain bridge officers on the basis of their file photos was perhaps somewhat careless.”

It’s all good fun when the Willful Child embarks on a journey into Unknown Space, where the original mission is abandoned when the Captain encounters oversexed extraterrestrials, a time machine, and an artificial intelligence with gender issues. Can Captain Sawbuck, the spray tanned leader with the killer smile, save the Affiliation of Civilized Planets from an alien invasion?

Star Trek fans will appreciate the many sly references to the original series, but any science fiction readers who enjoy a large helping of humor, like Robert Asprin’s books, will find much to like about Willful Child.

Reviewed by Susan Belsky, September 2015.

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The White Ghost
A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery #10
James R. Benn
Soho Crime, September 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61695-511-3
Hardcover

The Billy Boyle World War II mystery series presents the reader with a double whammy:  A thoroughly researched story about the period combined with an excellent crime tale.  Until this novel, the series has concentrated on the European Theater of Operations where Billy, a Boston detective in civilian life, serves on the staff of General Eisenhower’s Supreme Command, tracing the progress of the war from North Africa through Sicily, Italy and, finally, the Normandy invasion.  For a change of pace, this novel takes Billy and his sidekick, Kaz, to the South Pacific.

The impetus for this sudden development is at the behest of Joe Kennedy, who pulls strings to have Billy investigate a murder in the Solomon Islands.  The reason for Billy’s selection derives from the fact that the body was discovered by Jack Kennedy, who was recovering after the loss of PT 109.  The Boyles and the Kennedys had a history back in Boston and the theory was that if Billy exonerated Jack as the perpetrator it would not be questioned, and if he accused the future President of murder it would be the result of a grudge.

The novel develops into more than a historical recounting or a mystery with a detailed look at the war operations in the Solomons, which were occupied by both U.S. and Japanese forces, on land, sea and in the air.  And a rousing finish with Billy and Kaz in the middle of a firefight between marines and Japanese infantry.  All the novels in the series are equally enjoyable, and The White Ghost is highly recommended.

Reviewed by Ted Feit, July 2015.

Book Review: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Gabrielle Zevin
Algonquin Books, December 2014
ISBN 978-1-61620-451-8
Trade Paperback

A.J. Fikry owns a bookstore on an island off the Massachusetts coast, which hasn’t been doing too well lately. Neither is Fikry, whose wife died a couple of years ago and whose prized possession, a rare Poe volume, has been stolen. When a toddler is abandoned in his store, changes take hold of his life. Funny, moving, a delightful surprise for readers who enjoy books like Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson and Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project.

Fikry asks the social worker who comes to collect the child if he can be little Maya’s foster father, although he has no experience with small children. “How hard can changing a diaper be?” he muses,” I know how to gift wrap a package.” But a toddler had round and wiggly contours that a stack of books lacks. He googles what to feed her, and ends up calling his sister-in-law, who brings over tofu lasagna. Fikry complains to the police chief that Maya has terrible taste in books. All she wants to read is The Monster at the End of this Book over and over.

When he enrolls her in dance school, his bookstore sponsors the recital. The local mothers offer him advice, and he begins to stock books on parenting and adds a growing selection of children’s books. The police chief, who discovers Maya’s mother was a young woman who drowned herself in the ocean nearby, stops by to check on the girl and to discuss books with Fikry. The question of why Maya was left at the bookstore is answered at the very end of the book, when the reader has totally forgotten how she came to stay.

Little by little the stand-offish and somewhat curt Fikry is drawn into town life. The transformative power of love works on Fikry’s relationships with his neighbor, his sister-in-law, and with a publisher’s representative with a soft spot for lost causes.

Each chapter of the book starts with the title of a short story and Fikry’s thoughts about it, and why it is important to know. Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter” and Fitzgerald’s “Diamond as Big as the Ritz” are two of the stories that Fikry has on his “must read” list. This is a literate and witty book with a heart, and one of my favorites of this year. The author has written eight adult and young adult novels.

Reviewed by Susan Belsky, September 2015.

Book Review: The Warning by Sophie Hannah and The After House by Michael Phillip Cash

The Warning
Sophie Hannah
Witness Impulse, June 2015
ISBN 978-0-06-242884-4
Ebook
Mass Market Paperback available August 2015

From the publisher—

Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

When a kindly stranger does Chloe a good deed, she decides she must repay him. But in tracing him, she meets a sympathetic woman named Nadine, who warns Chloe to stay away from the man at all costs. “Give him nothing, tell him nothing, don’t trust him,” she says. “Avoid him like the plague.”

Chloe knows the sensible thing to do: walk away. But her curiosity gets the best of her. What is the truth about the good Samaritan? How dangerous could he be? And can Chloe find the answers without putting herself and her daughter in harm’s way?

Years ago, when I was a Girl Scout, both as a girl and, later, as a troop leader, one of my very favorite campfire songs was “The Ash Grove”. Since that song is pretty much the catalyst for everything that happens in this story, I was completely hooked from the beginning. Unfortunately, it took no time at all for me to recognize that Chloe is essentially a stalker and, perhaps worse, TSTL.

Make no mistake, Ms. Hannah has crafted a terrific story full of questions and suspense and interesting characters. It’s a good thing because, otherwise, I might have closed the book right when Chloe signed a note to a near-stranger “Lots of love”. What woman in her right mind does that? If I hadn’t closed it then, I would have when she muses about how he’d be so hurt at what someone else said about him. Yes, she’s got the obsessive gene for sure.

When Tom mentions diamonds in a joking manner, Chloe immediately jumps to a ridiculous assumption. What is wrong with this besotted woman? Wait…could it be that Chloe and Tom are two peas in the proverbial pod?

And then it all goes upside down.

One of Sophie Hannah‘s many talents is that she can keep me reading even when I’m sure I no longer want to. Mind you, I still think Chloe is more than a little off the rails but, still and all, I’m not the least bit sorry I continued on, if only because I had the chance to once again see Simon Waterhouse and Charlie Zailer, soon to be starring in their own book, Woman with a Secret, coming in August.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, June 2015.

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The After House
Michael Phillip Cash
CreateSpace, September 2014
ISBN 978-1-5006-0036-5
Trade Paperback

From the author—

Remy Galway and her daughter Olivia are rebuilding their life after a failed marriage in a 300 year old cottage in historic Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. Little do they know, another occupant is lurking in the haven of their own home. Will the After House be their shelter or their tomb?

The After House strikes me as a story that doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it a romance? A ghost story? A tale of love lost and love found? Of escaping an abusive relationship? Of foul play?

Actually, it’s all of the above and I think that works to its detriment because, as a relatively short book, we don’t have enough time to be really invested and the multiple threads don’t help. I also think that some of the behavior of the main character, Remy, becomes questionable because of the time restriction.

Why, for instance, is Remy virtually wallowing in self-pity when it’s been nearly a year since her divorce and surely longer since the events that ended her marriage? Why does she claim to be gunshy of relationships and then show herself to be otherwise? Why is whoever is out to cause her trouble so very, very incompetent?

Then there’s Captain Eli. I actually liked him much better than anyone else and had a good deal of sympathy for his inability to move on. Then again, I had to wonder why practically everyone can see him and/or feel his presence and, in some cases, even touch him physically?

Oh, I also liked a couple of characters named Sten and Marum but to tell you why would be to spoil things so I’ll say no more about them.

Anyhoo, I choose to look at this as a simple ghost story with some other elements thrown in to flesh out the tale and, as such, it was a few short hours nicely spent. I don’t regret the time 😉

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, June 2015.

Book Review: The Blue Virgin by M. K. Graff

The Blue Virgin
A Nora Tierney Mystery
M. K. Graff
Bridle Path Press, April 2010
ISBN 978-0-615-35514-6
Trade Paperback

The story opens upon two lovers having a little spat. Bryn Wallace has fallen in love with Val Rogan, and they’re arguing about whether moving in together will work. Bryn wants to go into the relationship as an equal–and yes, she’s still working on the same-sex partner thing.

But that same night Bryn is murdered, and Val becomes suspect. Who else had a motive? Who else had the opportunity? Detective Inspector Declan Barnes doesn’t lack for possible suspects; Bryn’s former boyfriends, a father she never knew, a possibly jealous employer. But still, a jealous lover is still his best bet.

As the net draws in around Val, Nora Tierney, who has surprisingly already solved one crime, is determined to rescue her friend. Nora is aided by a man who wants nothing more than to marry her, even though she’s pregnant with another man’s child. Even Declan, drawn to Nora in spite of himself, wants to protect her as she hunts desperately for Bryn’s killer.

Classify this one as a literary mystery. The author delves deeply into the character of both protagonists and antagonists. The story moves in such a fashion that the reader genuinely gets to know these people and learn what makes them tick. Using Oxford, England as the setting is plenty to pique one’s curiosity.

Putting Nora into a dangerous confrontation with the murderer, is a twisty and sophisticated solution to bring the mystery to a close. And if the characters at times seem quite flippant about so serious a matter as a young woman’s death, the end manages to become heartwarming indeed.

Reviewed by Carol Crigger, May 2013.
Author of Three Seconds to Thunder.