The Winter of the Witch

The Winter of the Witch  by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy #3)

In book #1 The Bear and the Nightingale, Vasilisa (Vasya) is a child in a small Russian village, listening to her nurse's stories of Vasilisa the Brave, one of the most famous heroes in northern folklore.  Things go terribly wrong, but at least she got a magical talking horse in the process.

In book #2 The Girl in the Tower, the action moves to Moscow, where Vasya and the horse Solovey try to protect the royal family and citizens of the city from evil magic.  Things go terribly wrong again, but at least the winter-demon teaches Vasya some useful magic in the process.

In book #3, The Winter of the Witch, things go terribly wrong and get terribly wrong-er.  Vasya loses her allies, she loses her family, and Russia itself is nearly lost to the invading Tatar army.  But Vasya is stubborn, clever, and just a little bit lucky, so with the help of magical friends (mostly familiar figures from Russian fairy tales), she brings new power to the decisive Battle of Kulikovo.  

The author twines historical Russian events with traditional Russian folklore to create a fabulous, magical series of novels, perfect for reading on cold winter nights.  Highly recommended for readers who enjoy fairy tale retellings with a strong female character.  

Check Please!

Check Please!  by Ngozi Ukazu

Eric "Bitty" Bittle just wants to bake pies, listen to pop music, vlog, play hockey, and maybe make some friends on the college hockey team.  A former Southern Junior Champion figure skater, he's kinda small for hockey, but he's wicked fast on the ice and that counts for a lot on a competitive team.  

It will take a long time for Bitty to come out as gay to his teammates...especially to team captain (and secret crush) Jack Zimmermann.  In the meantime, there are college classes, epic keggers, and (of course) hockey.

Don't let the big-eyed manga style of the illustrations fool you:  this is not a kiddie comic.  The characters are college guys (and gals) and they are rude, crude, and socially unacceptable.  They cuss a lot.  In other words, they are hockey players.  They are also good friends, and much sweeter to each other than you might think.  

I wouldn't normally put "hockey player" and "adorable" in the same sentence, but this book practically requires that I do.  Love the supportive environment, love the ongoing references to fabulous food (mmmMMMmm, pie!), love the art, love the story.  

Highly recommended for ages 14 and up.  

My Fairy Godmother is a Drag Queen

My Fairy Godmother is a Drag Queen  by David Clawson

17-year-old Chris is the undervalued stepson in the socially-prominent (but financially bereft) Fontaine family.  He does all the cooking and cleaning, and keeps his step-siblings well-dressed and his step-mother comfortably numb.  When J.J. Kennerly, "The Most Eligible Bachelor in America," publicly announces that he will be attending the prestigious Autumnal Ball, the household goes nuts--and Chris gets left behind. 

Will Chris be cut off from happiness forever, or will his new friend Coco Chanel Jones work her fabulous fashion magic and bring about true love between Chris and J.J.? 

This Cinderella-reboot has a lot of cute elements and some laugh-out-loud moments, but tries a little too hard to rock the gender boat.   And then there's the ending, which involves a shoe and an unexpected coming-out that should have been satisfying but felt forced instead.

A quick and fun read for ages 12 to adult.

Dumplin'

Dumplin'  by Julie Murphy

Willowdean Dickson isn't what most people would call "beauty pageant material."  Certainly Willowdean herself never considered entering her hometown's biggest social event of the year, even though her own mother is a former Clover City Miss Teen Blue Bonnet and is now the chair of the event.

Because Willowdean is fat.  

She knows it.  It's obvious.  She's tried dieting in the past, but is now mostly comfortable with her body...but not always.  And when the hot-hot-hottie guy at work kisses her, the discomfort level goes way up.

It's a long road between "no-way, no-how" and "go big or go home" and yet Willowdean and her friends take the journey towards the coveted rhinestone crown.  And although they face some cringeworthy moments, the girls encounter some triumphant times along the way.  

This is a book about body image, Dolly Parton, and friendship.  There's a romance (and a bit of a romantic triangle), but the focus of the story is on Willowdean's relationship with her longtime best friend Ellen and her new friends Amanda, Millie and Hannah.  

And, just so you know:  the story doesn't end the way you think it will.

Recommended for readers 14 to adult.  All sexual situations are off-stage but the kissing is front and center.

The Nightingale

The Nightingale  by Kristin Hannah

WWII is on, the Nazis have invaded, and France is occupied.  Elder sister Vianne is committed to surviving and to keeping her daughter safe.  Younger sister Isabelle is outraged, and determined to join the Résistance and beat the Germans.  The siblings rarely agree and are separated by time and politics for almost the entire duration of the conflict.

The point is made several times during the story that "war stories" are almost always about (and told by) men, and that the Nazis often overlooked the role of women in warfare, sometimes to the tremendous detriment of the Third Reich. 

Not everything goes well, of course.  Some of the wrong people are taken away, some of the characters that readers attach to come to grievous harm.  Very few of the characters would be objectively considered "good people"...and yet, the details of their lives are so compelling that the book is difficult to put down.

Written for adult audiences but with plenty of teen appeal, especially for readers of Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire.  Sexual situations are mostly off-page, but some of the violence (and torture) is not.

Highly recommended for readers ages 14 to adult, and especially for book discussion groups.

The Martian

The Martian  by Andy Weir

audiobook ready by  R.C. Bray

Everybody figured that Mark Watney was dead.  The Martian astronaut's space suit was pierced by a flying piece of equipment during a sandstorm.  The suit erroneously reported that his vital signs were flat, and nobody could figure out where his body had fallen.  So the crew of Aries III left the Red Planet without him.

But Mark isn't dead.  Not yet.  He might die of starvation, or of carbon dioxide poisoning.  He might get lost on the surface with no way to find his way back to the equipment that will help him survive.  He might even die of loneliness or despair.

But he isn't dead yet.  

Apollo 13 meets MacGyver meets Robinson Crusoe in a fast-paced and believable survival story.  The audiobook read by R.C. Bray skillfully portrays the voices of a widely diverse cast of character--not just Mark Watney on Mars, but also the Aries III crew, the politicians at home in Washington, the team leaders at NASA, the orbital science geeks at JPL, and more.

Be aware that the narrative contains a sh*tload of cussing. If you were stranded alone on Mars, you'd probably cuss too.  

Highly recommended.  This book is not written for teen readers but will have lots of teen appeal, especially when the film starring Matt Damon is released in October 2015.

Afterworlds

Afterworlds  by Scott Westerfeld

18-year-old Darcy Patel wrote the first draft of her novel during National Novel Writing Month, sent it to an agent in New York, and sold it (plus the as-yet-unwritten sequel) for an enormous amount of money.

Darcy takes the aforementioned enormous amount of money and moves to New York.  She finds an apartment, meets other authors who love her work, and falls in love.

As one does.

18-year-old Lizzie Scofield is the main character in the novel Darcy Patel wrote.  Lizzie survived a terrorist attack by entering the "flip side" (world of the dead), fell in love with a hunky guy who is apparently some kind of death god, and now she sees ghosts.

As one does.

This is not an awesome book unless you like reading about YA authors.  

You know how writers are always enjoined to "write what you know," right?

Well, Scott Westerfeld is a YA author, and when he is writing about authors, and writing, and revising, and the whole surreal, frustrating, almost-random world of publishing, he shines.

As one does.

When he is writing about the surreal, frustrating, almost-random world of being a teenaged lesbian living away from home and falling in love for the first time, not-so-much.

Some reviewers have suggested that this is a satire, poking fun at the inhabitants of the YA publishing world, but I think that misses the mark.  Rather, I think the author spotlights a weird but cool segment of the planet that he knows very, very well.  The problem is: a lot of readers don't care to read about publishing.

The exception is readers who are also writers.  For those readers, here is your book. 

It is not a how-to for teen authors who want to get their YA novels published. Westerfeld is actually still writing that book, called How to Write YA.  There's an excerpt of it HERE.

It is, rather, a fictionalized insider's view of the publishing world.  If you read it for that, you won't be disappointed.

If you read it for the paranormal book-within-the-book, ehh.  You'll probably find better stuff elsewhere--and much of the better stuff was written by this author.

Violence : the opening sequence of Lizzie's story is bloody and intense, other parts are scarier but less bloody.
Underage drinking : doesn't anybody ask for ID at bars in NYC?
Some tactful sexual situations in both story lines.

Recommended for readers who write, ages 14 to adult.

Say What You Will

Say What You Will  by Cammie McGovern

Amy is a high school senior with spastic cerebral palsy.  She doesn't walk well without assistance, she talks by using a voice simulating computer, and she has no real friends.

Matthew is a high school senior who has known Amy (kind of) since elementary school.  Matthew is obsessive-compulsive, and his need to tap lockers, count ceiling tiles, wash his hands and avoid the blue squares on the hallway floors is getting worse.  He doesn't have any real friends either.

When Matthew is hired as a peer helper for Amy, the two teens begin talking to each other as they have never communicated with anyone else before.  Maybe they've even fallen in love, despite their catastrophic prom date.

And then...things go wrong.

Beautifully written, here is a compassionate story of two teens who don't fit in. And yes, there is sex in this book -- tactful, and off-page, but there is definitely sex.

Highly recommended for readers who liked the passion and  intelligent banter between characters in The Fault In Our Stars, with the good news:  nobody dies in this book.

Girl Defective

Left: Australian cover art.  Right:  American cover art.

Girl Defective by Simmone Howell

Sky's family of misfits lives above a vintage record store:  her father is an alcoholic deep in denial and firmly stuck in the past, her little brother Gully pretends to be a secret agent and won’t take off his pig snout mask, and her mother left the family behind for an avant-garde career in music.  Sky is drawn to Luke, the older brother of a girl who mysteriously drowned, and she yearns to emulate her worldly friend Nancy, while at the same time considers herself a “resident bird,” intent on finding her place (whatever it may be) in St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne.

In keeping with a family obsessed by vintage vinyl, Sky often describes people and situations by comparing them to old (and often obscure) music recordings.  Readers (like me) who lack knowledge of these recordings will still be able to follow the story, but probably miss some of the nuance of the story.

The well-written characters are quirky, flawed and layered. The dialogue is snappy and sometimes brutally honest.   The mysterious death of Luke’s sister Mia is not the focus of the story, but investigating it brings clues forward to inform other issues and other characters.  Few situations are actually resolved, but the conclusion holds many notes of redemption.

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.

Gorgeous

Gorgeous  by Paul Rudnick

If Doctor Faust and Eliza Doolittle (portrayed by Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady") wrote a book together, that book might be the first half of Gorgeous.

Sorting through stuff left behind after the death of her beloved, morbidly obese mother, Becky Randle discovers a phone number concealed within a jewelry box.  Calling the number sets off a whirl of events, leading Becky to the hidden enclave of a mysterious-yet-ubiquitous clothing designer.  Tom Kelly proposes to create three dresses for Becky that will transform her into Rebecca, the most beautiful woman in the world.  The catch?  Becky must fall in love and marry within a year.

Somewhere along the way, the story gets a bit muddled, but the strong, sarcastic voices of Becky, her best friend Rocher, and charming Prince Gregory of England rescue the book from the round file.  This book is full of snarky commentary about money, beauty, talent, fame, social class, and social responsibility, wrapped in an over-the-top, unconventional narrative.  

Lots of cussing, lots of glamour, and some sexual situations on page, including the "outing" of a teen heart-throb.  

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult--those who enjoyed Beauty Queens (Bray, 2011) will love this.

How To Lead a Life of Crime

How to Lead a Life of Crime by Kirsten Miller

"It's like Hogwarts for hustlers," says main character Flick, a pickpocket and runaway recruited as a student to the Mandel Academy. 

At Mandel, students are taught to seize power, money and political control, especially using illegal tactics.  The school offers coursework in human traficking, drug manufacture and sales, exploitation of natural resources, and an intense study of addictions and how to capitalize upon them.  Students are usually orphans and others who will not be missed in the outside world, which is convenient for school administrators when dealing with "drop-outs" who might rat them out to authorities.

 Flick still has a mysteriously alluring girlfriend on the outside...until the day that Joi shows up as a newly-recruited Mandel student.  Suddenly, Flick's success strategy changes: he's determined to rescue Joi at any cost. 

The problem:  Joi doesn't want to cooperate with Flick's plan.  She has a plan of her own.

If you've ever had trouble distinguishing between unpredictable psychopaths and unpredictable sociopaths, this book will cure that.  It's got action, adventure, hand-to-hand violence, industrial sabotage, sexual scheming, computer hacking, and all the other stuff you'd hope to find in a great book of betrayal and suspense.  For some reason, the publisher has chosen to present "f-bombs" written as "f---" but other cuss words aren't blanked out.  This isn't deadly, but it is distracting within the narrative.

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.

Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The innkeeper is younger than he appears, and he chooses to be called "Kote."  It's not his real name.  He has reasons not to tell his new neighbors that he is really Kvothe--a man known in legend and song as a magician, a musician, a hero and a few other things.

Now, the Chronicler has tracked him down and Kvothe tells the entire story of his life for the first time.  The story will take three days to tell.  The Name of the Wind is the narrative of the first day.  The second day's narrative is told in Book #2 of the Kingkiller Chronicles: The Wise Man's Fear.  

Epic fantasy with magic, adventures, love and hate, and battles between good and evil.  Nick Podehl narrates the audiobooks beautifully, keeping the narrative line tense and engaging.

Recommended for readers and listeners ages 12 to adult.  Violence is mostly (but not entirely) off-page.  Book #1 has no sex or nudity, but Book #2 has much more (mostly off-page) of both, including Kvothe's account of a several-month's-long-tryst in the land of the Fae. 

Read the series slowly--Book #3, tentatively called The Doors of Stone, is not yet scheduled for release!

Starting From Here

Starting From Here  by Lisa Jenn Bigelow
You wouldn't want Colby's life.  Her mom died of cancer.  Her truck driver dad is gone most of the time.  And her girlfriend just dumped her...for a guy.

Then by chance Colby rescues Mo, a stray dog hit by a car.  Mo survives the amputation of his leg, and caring for him propels Colby into friendships she would never have imagined. 

This potentially too-sweet story is enlivened by an imperfect central character with the knack for screwing up relationships.  Fortunately, Colby is determined to live with her own choices, and the strength of her character makes up for a lot of bad judgement.  Supporting characters are worthwhile as well:  her buddy Van, her absent-but-loving dad, and the cute girl at school who just might forgive Colby's screw-ups, if only she gets the chance.

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.  No violence; some cussing, some kissing, and one very tactful incident of Star Trek Sex.

For the Win

For the Win  by Cory Doctorow

audiobook read by George Newbern

 

All over the world, kids play video games...for money.  

They don't make much money, of course.  Their bosses make most of the money, selling virtual treasure--magic swords, talking mushrooms, and virtual gold--to rich gamers who are too lazy to play the games and earn treasure for themselves.  Virtual economies are big business...which is why the mysterious woman called Big Sister Nor is determined to organize the sweatshop virtual workers of the world into a real-life union.

 

Doctorow has written about an uninteresting topic with such riveting action that I found myself deeply immersed in the tale.  Embedded in the story of the Webblies are mini-lectures about economics, politics, and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), which somehow, miraculously, are fascinating rather than boring. 

 

The audiobook read by George Newbern was so captivating that I found myself volunteering to drive anywhere, preferably somewhere far away, so that I could spend more time in my truck with the characters in the book.

 

Highly recommended to readers who love gaming...and also to readers who don't love gaming but do love a good story.  Ages 12 to adult; off-page sex, some violence, some cussing (in several languages). 

 

Crazy in Love

Crazy in Love  by Dandi Daley MacKall

Mary Jane enters her senior year of high school having just been at a party where she flirted, with reciprocation.  The trouble is that Jackson is dating the popular and gorgeous Star.  

Her entire girl posse breaks into two factions:  those who would like to support her, and those who are definitely upset at the breach.  Mary Jane also hears two very distinct voices in her head telling her opposite

directions:  Plain Jane, who wants her to be the “good girl” and M.J., the sexy alternative. Mary Jane and her two best friends, now both in college, have taken a vow of chastity before marriage.  Her friend Alicia is now having sex with her college boyfriend; Red is not, because her boyfriend believes in God.

The banter between the voices is funny and witty.  The obvious, hit-you-over-the-head moral is not:  all girls who have sex before marriage will live in utter disappointment; all girls who remain chaste will be happy.  The book is witty and funny.  Mary Jane could have made the same decision without bringing in the God-talk and the obvious conclusion that breaking the chastity vow ruins your life.  The overt preaching ruins it.

No cussing, lots of kissing,  off-page sex.  Not recommended.

Insurgent

Insurgent  by Veronica Roth

In this second of the trilogy, the dystopia that was Chicago moves closer to an inevitable war. 

Picking up where Divergent left off, Roth explains little of the first story, making it imperative that they are read in order.  After escaping from the simulation-controlled factions, Tris, Tobias, Marcus, Caleb, and Peter all head toward Erudite headquarters to both make sense of what has happened and to plan for the future.  There are many twists awaiting them, including the Factionless, now ready to join the inevitable war, secrets held by Marcus, and in the center, the mystery of the Divergents themselves.

Tris is still the steady, unrestrained heroine, now so torn after killing her best friend Will, that she cannot hold or fire a gun.  Her romance with Tobias is so much like the roller coaster at Riverside Park, we are reminded that she is, after all, a sixteen-year-old girl. 

We race to the end so fast, we forgive the gaping holes in the story.  For example, if Jeanine knew the "truth," why was she so anxious to destroy the Divergents?  This middle story of the trilogy gives us much more than a bridge to the third.  It is an exciting ride on it's own and leaves us wanting the final thought-provoking episode.

Heavy kissing, off-stage sex.  Recommended for readers ages 13 to adult.  (mjh)

A Monster Calls  by Patrick Ness

Illustrations by James Kay

Thirteen year old Conor awakens in the middle of the night and sees a monster outside his bedroom window.  Conor is surprised by this monster:  it's not the nightmare he has been expecting.  Instead, the monster takes the shape of a walking, talking, terrible yew tree that tells awful stories and expects the worst possible thing from Conor:  the truth.

The problem with this book is that the plot sounds completely stupid.  My advice: ignore the plot description and just read a page or two...(there's a free preview of the Kindle version of the book HERE. )  Allow yourself to be sucked into Conor's darkness, his fear, and his dread, and learn why the monster is called to walk. 

It sounds scary, but the book isn't actually scary.  It sounds crazy, but the story ultimately makes sense.  And, just a word of warning:  have a hanky ready for the last two chapters.

I wouldn't have thought enough of the "sex" in this book to include it on the Sex in the Library list, but the Children's Librarian who gave me the book was clearly freaked out by the implication of off-the-page intimacy.  Clearly, she doesn't spend much time with teen literature (or teens, either!), but if a very tactful passing reference to intimate married adults bothers you, then avoid this book. 

Otherwise, go find it and read it. 

No cussing, some schoolyard bullying, and the aforementioned implication of off-stage sex.  Highly recommended for ages 12 to adult.