Review: I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Title: I’ve Got Your Number
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Category: chick-lit
Publisher: The Dial Press, February 14, 2012
Pages: 448
Source: ARC via netGalley, read on my Kindle
Star rating: 5 out of 5

When it comes to books, I have terribly happy memories of the early-2000s. I discovered chick-lit, probably on one of those lovely three-for-two tables Borders used to have near the front door. I read them all: Jane Green, Jennifer Weiner, Marian Keyes, Helen Fielding, and others I’ve forgotten. I loved the formula: single career girl in a big city (the best ones were always in London) looking for love. They were comfortable and predictable, and I gobbled them up.

Those authors have changed and shifted their styles over the years, to topics a little more serious. They’re a bit heavier in their tone, with the drudgery of life in the suburbs (authors: there are happy people in the ‘burbs!), with two kids and a minivan and a husband who may or may not be unfaithful. I miss the old stuff. I miss the carefree and sweet stories, even if they all followed the same pattern.

And that’s why I still adore Sophie Kinsella (a.k.a. Madeleine Wickham). She can still write the single-girl-in-London story so well. Her characters are always lovable, and quirky, and a bit disheveled, and you can’t help but root for them.

In her latest, Poppy is engaged to Magnus, a genius from a genius family. At a bridal shower, Poppy loses her engagement ring, an expensive emerald, a family heirloom. Someone pulls the hotel fire alarm and the scene is chaotic. The ring is lost, and Poppy is distraught, and to make matters worse, her phone is stolen right out of her hand on the street. In the hotel’s lobby, she finds a discarded phone in a trash can and uses it to put out the alert about her lost ring and stolen phone.

But it can’t end there. No, Poppy has found a phone belonging to an important company, and an important man, Sam Roxton, wants it back. The ensuing events are mad-cap and a bit zany (in a good way) and Poppy’s life unravels just before an unlikely someone starts to put it back together again.

Only Sophie Kinsella can write a story like this. She takes the most unlikely people and events and makes them seem utterly believable. Her writing skill is impressive, to boot. I hope she never abandons this format completely. Sometimes you just want to read something fun.

As an aside, I’ve been obsessed with greatly enjoying Downton Abbey so much lately. And even though Sam Roxton as described in the book looks nothing at all like Dan Stevens, that’s who I pictured through the whole book. A visual:

I guess I could’ve gotten stuck on the guy who plays Carson.

Review: Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale

Title: Midnight in Austenland
Author: Shannon Hale
Category: chick-lit
Publisher: Bloomsbury, January 31, 2012
Pages: 288
Source: ARC via netGalley, read on my Kindle
Star rating: 1 out of 5

Charlotte is a recently-divorced mother of two. She’s feeling left behind and lost and needs a vacation and a bit of her old zing back. She finds Austenland through her travel agent and books a trip to England to role-play for two weeks and re-set her heart and mind.

I adored Austenland, the first book in this series (review here). I was overjoyed by it and gobbled it up in a day. I still think of it fondly and was thrilled to learn it was the first in a series.

But something’s wrong with this one. There’s no life. There’s no excitement. There’s no thrilling aspect that kept me turning the pages. I read Austenland in a day, rooted to my couch, laughing and crying. Midnight in Austenland has none of that thrill for me.

And the writing. Oh, my word, the writing has some truly dismal moments. Here are two I highlighted on my Kindle:

Charlotte met eyes with the sofa. That is, if the sofa had eyes, she would have met eyes with it.

And…

An impatient sort of patient face, like an impatient face dressing up as a patient one for Halloween.

What? That’s just dreadful. Those are the two I highlighted, but there are more.

I usually try to go into the whys and hows of my feelings toward books, but this one was just so bad, such a disappointment, that I can’t write any more. I could barely finish the book, and I can barely finish the review, either.

Review: Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber

Title: Au Revoir, Cray European Chick
Author: Joe Schreiber
Category: young adult
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Page count: 192
Source: ARC from the publisher, via netGalley
Star rating: 5 out of 5

Life seems to be one bit of drudgery after another for Perry, who’s a high school senior with very different ideas than his parents about what should be important to him. He wants to dedicate as much time as he can to his band, and he wants to join the swim team at school before it’s too late, but his parents – especially his overbearing, high-powered New York City attorney father – care only about good grades and getting into the best college. Add to that the fact that the family has a quiet, geeky, weird Lithuanian exchange student, a completely out of touch girl named Gobi, and Perry is nearly at his wits’ end.

His band has a big show in New York City, but it unfortunately coincides with prom night. Perry doesn’t care, because he doesn’t have a girlfriend to take, anyway, but his parents insist he take Gobi. She’s requested him as her escort, and they think it’s the right thing to do, since it’s almost time for her to leave and head back to Lithuania. Perry is completely against the idea, since it’ll cost him his gig with his band and his reputation among his friends. But his parents won’t budge, and on prom night he finds himself in his father’s borrowed Jag, wearing an itchy rented tuxedo and escorting the girl who will barely say two words to him and has for some reason dressed herself in the most unattractive traditional Lithuanian dress possible.

But there’s a twist, and what starts as another high school dance turns into a wild adventure when Perry is drawn into Gobi’s mission against his will. Oh yeah, did I fail to mention Gobi’s a trained assassin and that the night ends up including henchmen, car chases, murder, explosions, unexpected twists, and even a bear fight? It’s like a sucker-punch of coming-of-age in the wildest way imaginable.

This is the first young adult novel written by a man that I’ve ever read, and it’s blissfully free of the angst (and, lately, paranormal elements) common in YA written by women. This is a wild story, impossible to put down. It’s completely implausible, and a total farce, but that’s what makes it so fun. Recommended for anyone looking for an adventure and the chance to escape reality for a little while. This is not your typical prom story.

Review: One Mississippi by Mark Childress

Title: One Mississippi
Author: Mark Childress
Category: fiction
Publisher: Little, Brown, July 2006
Page count: 385
Source: my library
Star rating: 5 out of 5

Now and then, I wish I weren’t restricted to five stars on my reviews. Sometimes I want to give so many stars they stretch across the page. An over-the-top reaction? Definitely. But this book is so worth it.

One Mississippi is the story of Daniel Musgrove and his family who move to Mississippi from Indiana in the summer of 1973 when his father receives a transfer from the chemical company he sells products for. Daniel and his siblings, Janie and Bud, are against the move. They have good friends in Indiana; they’re tired of moving every few years; and besides, it’s Mississippi. They only know it to be hot, flat, and full of miserable racists. That’s really what the rest of the world thinks of Mississippi, right?

But soon Daniel decides it’s not so bad for him after all. Despite having to mow the family’s huge yard almost daily, and despite being the awkward new kid starting his junior year in Minor, a fictional town just outside of Jackson – personally, I think it’s a mash-up of Byrum and Terry – Daniel finds his classes to be somewhat interesting. A few of his teachers are just quirky enough to keep him paying attention. And on his first day, Daniel meets Tim Cousins, a fellow outcast. They quickly become best friends, sharing a love of sarcasm, music, and Sonny & Cher.

But Mark Childress doesn’t write straightforward, predictable novels. This one, for all its highly recognizable Mississippi traits, picked out easily by a native like me, is still a gothic novel. It’s dark, darkly funny, and hard to pin down. Daniel has an unlikely romance with an unlikely prom queen. Daniel and Tim are involved in a terrible accident that changes the prom queen’s life forever. Daniel and Tim get involved with a cheesy and fairly sacrilegious youth group musical called Christ! And it goes on and on, the story and characters building to an explosive ending.

This is the kind of book that could only be written by a Southerner, and could only be set in the South. Nothing like this could happen anywhere else. It’s totally unique and utterly captivating. My book club did this for our August selection, and I was the only one who really seemed to love it. I connect with weird and wonderful books like this, and can’t wait to read Childress’ other work. Next time he comes to Lemuria, as he does with every new book he releases, I’ll be there, fangirling and asking for an autograph.

Review: Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

Title: Sisterhood Everlasting
Author: Ann Brashares
Category: fiction
Publisher: Random House, June 2011
Page count: 368
Source: downloaded to my Kindle
Star rating: 5 out of 5

When I was about halfway through this book, I started writing a review detailing how disappointed I was in it, and how I didn’t get the multitude of five-star reviews on Goodreads. The characters are so miserable, so stuck in the mire of their own various flavors of unhappiness, that I didn’t know if I could keep reading. It’s not that I want to read only happy-clappy books; but lately, Brashares has a habit of writing utterly sad-sack books, and I didn’t know how I could make it through another one.

It’s 10 years after the last adventure with the magical pair of Traveling Pants, and the four heroines are nearing 30 and have drifted apart. Bee is still irresponsible, a free spirit floating around in California, still with Eric, whom she met at a soccer camp as a teenager; Carmen is living in New York City, a TV actress, living an unhappy life with a guy named Jones; Tibby lives in Australia with Brian, and the other three girls can’t get her to answer emails; and Lena is still the navel-gazing artist, teaching at RISD and not quite able to let go of her memories of Kostos, the one that got away.

Tragedy strikes the four, setting in motion the middle passage of the book which drags and lags and is so depressing it’s hard to slog through. My Kindle told me I was 59% done when I sat down this past Sunday afternoon, resigned to quickly skimming the rest of the story. But three hours later, I had finished the book, reading every word, and I was having myself an ugly cry on the couch, long after my son should have been up from his nap and I should have been cooking supper.

So stick with it if you’re reading and find your mind wandering. The sadness and misery never fully go away, but there’s deep hope at the end. One character sets in motion a grand plan for the group, and though it doesn’t quite happen how she’d meticulously envisioned, it does happen in the end, proving these four girls are more closely tied than some blood sisters.

Review: It Couldn’t Just Happen by Lawrence O. Richards

Title: It Couldn’t Just Happen
Author: Lawrence O. Richards
Category: Christian, non-fiction, science
Publisher: Thomas Nelson; August 2, 2011
Page count: 234
Source: ARC from the publisher
Star rating: 4 out of 5

Originally published in 1987 and now updated with new text and all-new photos, It Couldn’t Just Happen is a little book packed with lots of information proving Creation of the Bible over the theory of evolution. Richards starts with the Creation event itself and follows with amazing facts about the human body, animal and plant life, fossil records, weather events, and nature’s impossible-to-ignore reflection of its Creator. Throughout, he uses Scripture proofs and without hesitation says the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, and that there is no room for doubting its validity when it comes to Creation, historical Adam and Eve, and the proof of God’s handiwork in humans and nature.

If the book falls short for me, it’s that it doesn’t state definitively how long Creation took. Richards leaves the door open for the day-age theory, which states we cannot know how long a “day” in the Creation story is. Perhaps it is a strict 24-hour period, as we know a day to be, or perhaps a “day” could have been millions of years long, which would allow for gradual changes we collectively call evolution. Myself, I’m a strict six-day Creationist. The word for “day” in Genesis, in the Creation story, is the same Hebrew word used for a 24-hour period elsewhere in the Old Testament. God is not a god of confusion or doubt, leaving us stranded without critical pieces of information. We know all we need to know in this life on Earth about Jesus, heaven, miracles, prophecies, and so forth, so why would He keep from us the full truth of our very origins?

Despite this personal quibble, which is easily a teachable moment for my son once it’s time to teach him in-depth about these things, It Couldn’t Just Happen is an invaluable resource for Christian parents. The Scripture texts used throughout are appropriate for the topic at hand, and each chapter ends with a “Just for Fun” page of questions and activities designed to challenge thinking and look at Creation in a fun and imaginative way. I would not use this as the primary text for teaching my son or a class about Creation, but I will certainly keep it around and use it as a supporting text.

This book was given to me for free by BookSneeze, Thomas Nelson’s program for book bloggers, in exchange for an honest review. The publisher did not influence my review, and all thoughts and opinions stated here are my own.

Review: Ripple by Mandy Hubbard

Title: Ripple
Author: Mandy Hubbard
Category: YA
Publisher: Razorbill (July 21, 2011)
Page count: 260
Source: ARC from the author, via Around the World ARC Tours
Star rating: 4 out of 5

Summary from Goodreads:
Lexi is cursed with a dark secret. Each day she goes to school like a normal teenager, and each night she must swim, or the pain will be unbearable. She is a siren – a deadly mermaid destined to lure men to their watery deaths. After a terrible tragedy, Lexi shut herself off from the world, vowing to protect the ones she loves. But she soon finds herself caught between a new boy at school who may have the power to melt her icy exterior, and a handsome water spirit who says he can break Lexi’s curse if she gives up everything else. Lexi is faced with the hardest decision she’s ever had to make: the life she’s always longed for – or the love she can’t live without?

Mermaid/siren books are becoming the new paranormal “it book,” so I was a little cautious about this one. I tend to avoid books in whatever genre’s currently the most popular. But I was pleasantly surprised and ended up really loving this book.

Lexi is a likable character. The poor girl has been living inside her own personal hell for two years, friendless and alone, keeping her secret of having to swim every night instead of sleep. She’s shunned at school, and her only family is her elderly grandmother. But at the beginning of her senior year, Lexi’s old friend Cole starts talking to her again. Lexi, Cole, and Sienna, Lexi’s ex-best friend are thrown together for a class project, and Sienna’s iciness to Lexi begins to melt a bit.

A romance blossoms between Lexi and Cole just at the moment Lexi notices a new guy in school. Erik is wildly attractive, and Lexi is startled to see that he shares her same clear blue eyes. She finds him unsettling, but is still drawn to him.

Somehow Mandy Hubbard makes this paranormal romance feel like a contemporary one. The siren aspect of Lexi’s life is what defines her at this point in her story, but it almost seems secondary to the love triangle that emerges, and to the patched-up friendship between Lexi and Sienna. There’s also danger, intrigue, and mystery thrown in. Hubbard throws out little clues along the way that for an avid mystery reader like me make the twist a little too obvious, but the process of getting there is still fun and interesting. The book’s climactic ending is heart-pounding and satisfying.

I appreciate how Lexi is drawn to both Cole and Erik, but asks herself mature, important questions about love. She isn’t content to fall into the arms of either boy just because he’s attractive and paying her attention. For Lexi, what’s beneath the surface matters more. She’s a mature, poised heroine, which only adds to her likability.

I’ve read Hubbard’s other two YA books, Prada & Prejudice and You Wish, and I think Ripple takes Hubbard’s writing and storytelling to a new level. Perhaps her true calling is to this gritty, edgy, but still ultimately hopeful and happy, sub-genre of YA.

Review: Max On Life by Max Lucado

Title: Max On Life
Author: Max Lucado
Category: Christian living
Publisher: Thomas Nelson, 2011
Page count: 256
Source: review copy from the publisher
Star rating: 2 out of 5

Max Lucado is one of those superstars in Christian culture. His books sell by the truckload, he’s often quoted in blogs, on Twitter, and on Christian radio, and he’s a sought-after author and speaker. I’m instantly suspect of anything or anyone so widely popular. Maybe I’m just a cynical old Reformed chick, but I’m naturally a little wary of big names.

Lucado breaks this book into categories:

• Hope
• Hurt
• Help
• Him/Her
• Home
• Haves/Have-Nots
• Hereafter

Each section contains letters Max has received through the years, asking questions on the listed topics. Max sets about answering these questions in each chapter. The book is touted to be aimed at new and mature Christians alike, but while there’s nothing inherently wrong with what Lucado says, the book surely won’t be particularly helpful for mature Christians. Let’s face it: You know what you’re getting with Max Lucado. Inoffensive, gentle, humorous advice, but not exactly earth-shattering or hard-hitting. He loves the Lord, and he loves people, but he’s not a great theologian or a tell-it-like-it-is kind of guy like John Piper or Al Mohler. If you want to be shaken, convicted, and edified, just go read Piper or Mohler or a host of other writers.

In fact, if I had things my way, we’d see somebody like Piper or Mohler, or Tim Keller or D.A. Carson, write a book like this. Now that’s something I could wholeheartedly recommend.

Disclosure: I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson’s book blogger program, Booksneeze, with the expectation of a review. All thoughts are my own and were not in any way influenced by the publisher.

Review: Johann Sebastian Bach by Rick Marschall

Title: Johann Sebastian Bach
Author: Rick Marschall
Category: biography
Publisher: Thomas Nelson, 2011
Page count: 145
Source: review copy from the publisher
Star rating: 3 out of 5

My childhood was full of good music. My father knows more about classical music than anyone else I’ve ever known, and our house was always full of it (plus jazz, Broadway, country, pop – I heard it all). Early on, I knew one of his favorite composers was Bach, and it wasn’t just because of the glorious and beautiful music he wrote. It also had a lot to do with Bach’s faith, a faith we share with him. He began every composition with the words “Jesu, Juva” (Jesus, help me) and ended each with “Soli Deo Gloria” (to God alone be the glory). And now, as an adult, I’m privileged to be in a church choir that still sings the important works of important composers such as Bach. There’s nothing like singing his music; you can feel the praise in every note and ever word.

This book is another installment of Thomas Nelson’s “Christian Encounters” series. Each slim volume presents biographical information about its subject, giving chronologies of childhoods and upbringings, shedding light on how each came to be such a unique and important person in world history. (I reviewed another Christian Encounters edition, on Winston Churchill, here.)

If anyone had a right to feel prideful about his enormous gift for music, it would be Bach, but Marschall shows the composer’s humility through quotes and anecdotes. Always, Bach’s goal of glorifying God comes through in his words. Take, for example, this quote: “The aim and final reason of all music should be none else but the glory of God and refreshing the soul.” Bach took Soli Deo Gloria to heart and lived it.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to be inspired by a fellow Christian who achieved the pinnacle of worldly accolades while doing it all for God’s glory. Anyone involved in church music would find this especially interesting. There probably isn’t anything new for people who are highly knowledgeable about classical music or Bach himself, but for the novice or someone needing a history refresher, this book would do the trick.

Disclosure: I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson’s book blogger program, Booksneeze, with the expectation of a review. All thoughts are my own and were not in any way influenced by the publisher.

Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Title: Hourglass
Author: Myra McEntire
Category: young adult
Publisher: EgmontUSA, June 2011
Page count: 400
Source: my library
Star rating: 3 out of 5

Emerson Cole is having a rough time of it. Her parents died in a terrible accident when she was 13, and now, at 17, she lives in Ivy Springs, TN, with her doting older brother, Thomas, and his wife, Dru. Emerson has a secret that only her closest family know: she sees things that aren’t there. Not quite ghosts, not quite phantoms, these apparitions are connected to old buildings. Emerson sees a Southern belle, a Confederate soldier, a jazz trio. She can make them disappear by touching them, but they come back. Emerson was nearly driven crazy by these visions, and after a particularly harrowing incident in her high school cafeteria, she was institutionalized, tested, and heavily medicated.

She’s back in Ivy Springs and the visions are happening again, because Emerson has stopped taking her medication, wanting to feel like her old self again. Her brother calls in one more expert, a mysterious young man named Michael Weaver. He’s just a couple years older than Emerson and is from a group called the Hourglass. He believes Emerson’s stories and even seems to share her visions. And it’s not just that kind of connection the two have. Emerson and Michael are drawn to each other and feel an electric current when they’re together or touch. Michael wants to help Emerson, but also needs her help. He enlists her to use her gifts to prevent a death that never should have happened.

Hourglass weaves science fiction with traces of the kind of paranormal stories that are so popular in young adult fiction today. The story is interesting, but uncomfortably close to the plot of  Twilight, and it’s quite complicated and wandering at times. A lot happens, and there’s an almost over-abundance of characters, and it’s hard to keep it all straight. The “science” seems a bit far-fetched, even for science fiction, and a willing suspension of disbelief is required. Lastly, I was a bit uncomfortable with the intensity of Emerson and Michael’s attraction to each other. Not only is there an almost crippling co-dependent need that Emerson feels for Michael, but the sexual undertones of their relationship are just shy of inappropriate. I’m no prude, but I do know what’s appropriate and not for teenagers, and this is a bit too much.

I look forward to the next book in the series and hope McEntire can tighten up the science and explain it all a little more clearly. She has an interesting thing going for her here, but it can get too big and run away from her if she’s not careful.