Book Review: White Lines by Jennifer Banash

White Lines
By Jennifer Banash

Published: April 4, 2013

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Age Demographic: YA Contemporary

Pages: 304

A gritty, atmospheric coming of age tale set in 1980s New York City.

Seventeen-year-old Cat is living every teenager’s dream: she has her own apartment on the Lower East Side and at night she’s club kid royalty, guarding the velvet rope at some of the hottest clubs in the city. The night with its crazy, frenetic, high-inducing energy—the pulsing beat of the music, the radiant, joyful people and those seductive white lines that can ease all pain—is when Cat truly lives. But her daytime, when real life occurs, is more nightmare than dream. Having spent years suffering her mother’s emotional and physical abuse, and abandoned by her father, Cat is terrified and alone—unable to connect to anyone or anything. But when someone comes along who makes her want to truly live, she’ll need to summon the courage to confront her demons and take control of a life already spinning dangerously out of control.

Both poignant and raw, White Lines is a gripping tale and the reader won’t want to look away.

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White Lines is a gritty and raw coming of age tale that readers will not want to put down. Compelling and poignant, this is a young adult novel on the cusp of New Adult. Jennifer Banash does a wonderful job in delivering a stellar mature young adult novel, that is full of powerful emotion, atmospheric wonder, and a captivating storyline that is sure to wow and stun readers. Dangerous and out of control, this is a story that will embark readers on a rollercoaster ride of epic emotion, sprialing downwards and filled with strength that has no where else to go but up.

The characters are real, honest, and raw. Banash pours everything she has into telling the story of Cat, who comes alive by nightfall, and is the lonliest girl by day. Her story is painful, beyond the telling as she grapples with personal demons that threaten her happiness. Suffering physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her mother, abandonment by her father, she tries to cope the best way she knows how. It isn't until she meets Julian, that she feels truly alive from the inside out.

White Lines is a dirty and gritty story filled with heartaching pain. It's beautiful, the emotions that Banash is able to evoke with her beautiful poetic words, atmosphere, and the vulernable way she leaves her characters open and exposed. The story and the characters within, start to take on a life of their own and it's gorgeous to come along for the ride. Truly stunning and brilliantly written, White Lines, is probably one of the year's most touching and heartwrenching stories told.

This is not a novel that readers want to miss out on. Simply, unputdownable.

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Jennifer Banash was born and raised in New York City. She now lives in Southern California with her beagle, Sigmund, and her vast collection of designer shoes.

Book Review: Love In The Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block

Love In The Time of Global Warming
By Francesca Lia Block

Published: August 7, 2013

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. (BYR)

Age Demographic: YA Dystopia

Pages: 240

Seventeen-year-old Penelope (Pen) has lost everything—her home, her parents, and her ten-year-old brother. Like a female Odysseus in search of home, she navigates a dark world full of strange creatures, gathers companions and loses them, finds love and loses it, and faces her mortal enemy.

In her signature style, Francesca Lia Block has created a world that is beautiful in its destruction and as frightening as it is lovely. At the helm is Pen, a strong heroine who holds hope and love in her hands and refuses to be defeated.

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Love In the Time of Global Warming, is the first book that I've had the pleasure of reading by Francesca Lia Block. It was just as beautifully destructive and intriguingly frightening as I imagined it would be. My high hopes for this novel were not smashed to rubbish in any sort of capacity. I felt like Block managed to create this gorgeous yet destructive world, that had such a powerful enough force to keep me riveted to the pages. My mind was just captivated by this illusive dark, rich, and disparaging lovely allure that this novel gives off. The intense wave of emotion and the promise of overwhelming hope and refusal to give up by the main heroine, is what essentially won me over.

There is such a richness and character depth in Penelope (Pen), that I felt resonated with me on some levels. It was easy to connect with her character, as she is strong, beautiful, full of so much resistance to be defeated by anything. It's been a while, since I've fallen in love with a character quite like her, and I enjoyed becoming entranced by her story. There is so much that she goes through, in such a short amount of time in this novel, that I felt as if Block did a wonderful job navigating through it all. There is an entire cast of colorful and intriguing characters that aren't just Pen, who are fantastic and wonderful to get to know. They give this dark and gloomy story, so much complexity and depth of layers that it makes even more realistic and strong.

The world Block creates is stunningly real and vividly dark and imaginative, that the sheer force of it and beautifully written attention to detail in the description, will definitely pull you into the story. There are so many fantastical and magical elements about this young adult novel, that will have your head spinning and your heart racing. Heartbreaking and intensely emotional, Love in the Time of Global Warming, will resonate with you on a more personal level. The thought of finding love and then losing it, the dark lonely feeling of desperation and loss, and then the overwhelming sense of strength and hope will leave you delirious with love and affection for this book and the main heroine.

For those you who love The Odyssey, Homer's classic poem, Love in the Time of Global Warming will be the book that you will not want to miss out on this year. Francesca Lia Block, does not disappoint with this beautifully written and harrowing dark rich and vibrant post-apocalyptic tale steeped in wonderful mythology. This gorgeous young adult novel, is a re-imagining of The Odyssey like you have never imagined. It literally begs - SCREAMS - to be read. Gorgeous, beguiling, imaginative, and completely entrancing! This is an epic journey that will leave your heart yearning, your mind reeling, and your soul soaring.

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Francesca Lia Block was born in Los Angeles to a poet and a painter, their creativity an obvious influence on her writing. Another influence was her childhood love of Greek mythology and fairy tales. 

She has lived in the city all her life, and still resides there with her daughter, Jasmine Angelina (about whom she wrote her book Guarding the Moon), her son Samuel Alexander, and her two dogs: a springer spaniel named Vincent Van Go Go Boots and a beagle mix named Thumper. 

She left only to attend the University of California, Berkeley. She has often professed her love of Los Angeles, calling it a "Jasmine-scented, jacaranda-purple, neon sparked city," which she has nicknamed in her books "Shangri-LA.".

Book Review: Things I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally

Things I Can't Forget 
By Miranda Kenneally

Published: March 5, 2013

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Age Demographic: YA Contemporary

Pages: 320

Companion to Catching Jordan and Stealing Parker.

Kate has always been the good girl. Too good, according to some people at school—although they have no idea the guilty secret she carries. But this summer, everything is different…

This summer she’s a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp, and she wants to put the past behind her. This summer Matt is back as a counselor too. He’s the first guy she ever kissed, and he’s gone from a geeky songwriter who loved The Hardy Boys to a buff lifeguard who loves to flirt--with her.

Kate used to think the world was black and white, right and wrong. Turns out, life isn’t that easy.

Note: Mature themes, sexual situations, religious discussions.

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Things I Can't Forget is one of those young adult romance novels, that deals with heavy issues that every girl faces in such a realistic and relatable way. Kenneally does a wonderful job at bringing these issues to light, in such a way that readers are able to connect with the characters and the stories they have to tell. This novel, is a little bit different from her prior two novels. There are deeper issues and new territory to explore, but she does it in such a way that readers won't want to put this novel down until the last page has been turned.

It's easy to understand her characters, because Kenneally writes them in such a way that you can get inside their head and see their situation from their perspective. It makes the characters more likable and enjoyable to read about. Kate has a multitude of tough choices to make throughout this book and has to live with the secret that she keeps, from the choices she made regarding her best friend. She's the type of girl who is strong, steady, and always good. So, when things happen, and life seems like it's getting a bit too chaotic for her - she figures out just exactly what she's made of as she begins to shuffle some things around in her life. One of the best elements of the book, is that through her writing and the eyes of Kate, Kenneally shows readers that life isn't always as black and white as they think it might be.

Intensely gripping and emotional, Things I Can't Forget, will have leave readers churning. It has every element that a mature contemporary young adult novel should have, plus a few surprises along the way. The friendship and romance aspect, was brilliantly written and beautifully fleshed out. This is a novel that will dare readers to step outside of their comfort zone, much in the same way that Kate had to, and discover things about themselves they may not have discovered before. It's definitely a do not miss!

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Growing up in Tennessee, Miranda Kenneally dreamed of becoming an Atlanta Brave, a country singer (cliché!), or a UN interpreter. Instead she writes, and works for the State Department in Washington, D.C., where George W. Bush once used her shoulder as an armrest. Miranda loves Twitter, Star Trek and her husband.

Book Review: Obsidian Mirror by Chatherine Fisher

Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher

Published: April 26, 2013

Publisher: Dial

Age Demographic: YA Fantasy

Pages: 384

Jake's father disappears while working on mysterious experiments with the obsessive, reclusive Oberon Venn. Jake is convinced Venn has murdered him. But the truth he finds at the snow-bound Wintercombe Abbey is far stranger ... The experiments concerned a black mirror, which is a portal to both the past and the future. Venn is not alone in wanting to use its powers. Strangers begin gathering in and around Venn's estate: Sarah - a runaway, who appears out of nowhere and is clearly not what she says, Maskelyne - who claims the mirror was stolen from him in some past century. There are others, a product of the mirror's power to twist time. And a tribe of elemental beings surround this isolated estate, fey, cold, untrustworthy, and filled with hate for humans. But of them all, Jake is hell-bent on using the mirror to get to the truth. Whatever the cost, he must learn what really happened to his father.

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True to her craft, Catherine Fisher, has managed to pen another stunning and mutli-layered complex, original, and unique story. The Obsidian Mirror is sure to wow and stun reader's, with its amazingly compelling and captivating storyline. The mystery and intrigue woven into this story alone, is enough to pique their interest. Her world building skills are absolutely astounding and her imagery brings the story to life in so many ways imaginable, on the pages. Her words and beautiful imaginative turn of phrase, has a way of pulling reader's into the story right alongside the character's.

Rich in detail and wonderfully vivid imagery, The Obsidian Mirror, is a story that involves time travel, magic, and intriguing mystery. Her characters are fantastically complex and easy to connect with. One of the best elements that she employs, when it comes to her character's, is the fact that none of them are black and white. They are originally unique and full of lively characteristics and quirks of their own, that make them shine on the pages. Fisher manages to bring them to life in such an extraoridinary way that makes them believable, sympathetic, easy to love or hate, and hard to figure out sometimes. This is the mark of a true storyteller, in my opinion.

Involving the sci-fi element, such as time travel, with the paranormal aspects of the magical is superbly genius and it works in this novel, very well. The mirror in this novel, holds so much power, but at who's cost? Sarah, Venn, and Jake are three different and wholly interestingly complex characters that each have their own reasons for gaining access to the mirror. As Fisher takes reader's on an adventure, they will see how much power this mirror holds, what each character needs the use of it for, and why it can and will destroy at all costs. The world that each of them are catapulted into is dark, dangerous, and intensely suspenseful.

This is truly a novel that will have reader's on the edges of their seats. The world is so wonderfully imaginative and filled with creative quirks and fascets that, it is unputdownable. The Obsidian Mirror is possibly one of the best written paranormal sci-fi young adult novels that I've personally read in quite a while. If you enjoyed Catherine Fisher's previous books, then you are sure to enjoy this one.

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Catherine is an acclaimed poet and novelist, regularly lecturing and giving readings to groups of all ages. Her first novel, The Conjuror's Game, was shortlisted for the Smarties Books prize and The Snow-Walker's Son for the W.H.Smith Award. Equally acclaimed is her quartet The Book of the Crow, a classic of fantasy fiction. Her futuristic novel Incarceron was published to widespread praise in 2007, winning the Mythopoeic Society of America's Children's Fiction Award and selected by The Times as its Children's Book of the Year. The sequel, Sapphique, was published in September 2008..