The Fourteenth Goldfish (2014)

The Fourteenth Goldfish. Jennifer L. Holm. 2014. Random House. 208 pages. [Source: Library]

Ellie gets the unique opportunity to hang out with her grandfather, Melvin, when his scientific experiments succeed. Ellie has grown up knowing--observing--that her mom and her grandfather don't get along very well. But she'll get the chance to know him much, much better when his experiment reverses the aging process and he becomes 13 again. They'll live together. They'll go to school together. It would be hard to judge who has a harder time: Ellie, Melvin, or the mom/daughter. (Though my guess would be the mom/daughter. By all appearances, he's a kid, he's living in her house! She has to make sure he's doing his homework! But he is still very much her father. He has OPINIONS on everything she does.)

Ellie is growing apart from her best, best friend. Her friend has some new interests. Ellie has new interests as well. Ellie is meeting people she likes and though she hasn't made a new best friend overnight, Ellie is learning that change can be good, that meeting new people can be a good thing. One of Ellie's new interests is science. She really enjoys it! And she loves hanging out with her grandfather and their new friends. (Yes, they have friends in common.)

I liked it. I did. I am on the fence on if I liked it or loved it. It was a quick read that I enjoyed very much.
© 2014 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Courage for Beginners (2014)

Courage for Beginners. Karen Harrington. 2014. Little, Brown. 304 pages. [Source: Library]

I would definitely recommend Karen Harrington's Courage for Beginners. This middle grade novel is a compelling coming of age novel. It would pair well, I think, with The Swift Boys and Me by Kody Keplinger.

Mysti Murphy is a seventh grader with special challenges. Her mom is agoraphobic; for as long as Mysti can remember her mom has been that way. Her dad does it all: all the driving, all the errands. But the fall of her seventh grade year, her dad has an accident, and ends up in the hospital in a coma for several months. The guy who has been her best friend--by all appearances--decides to drop her. She won't fit in with his new "hipster" persona. He's decided that by wearing a hipster hat and being a huge jerk, he'll become more popular with people who count. Mysti definitely doesn't count. At least when there's a small chance that others are watching. Mysti struggles. No doubt. The book is about her growing pains--everything going all wrong at once. But does she have the strength and courage to face her problems and cope with them?

I enjoyed this one. I enjoyed spending time with Mysti. I was very glad that she got to make some new friends. I thought there was a nice balance of scenes between home and school.
© 2014 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Reread #36 Blue Plate Special

Blue Plate Special by Michelle D. Kwasney. 2009. Chronicle Books. 366 pages. [Source: Library]


I originally reviewed Blue Plate Special in February of 2010. I loved it. I loved it the same way that I love Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

Blue Plate Special is a compelling, dramatic story about three daughters. (John Mayer's "Daughters" kept coming to mind. For better or worse. Also Atticus' advice to Scout: "if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.") The book is very much character-driven. I don't know that I'd go so far to say that it is one of those "what it means to be human" books, but, if not it comes very close.

All of the characters are flawed; not one person within the pages of this book is perfect or flawless. Relationships in Blue Plate Special are messy. Readers meet three heroines. Madeline (1977-78). Desiree (1993-1994). Ariel (2009). Their stories are told in alternating chapters. I believe all the heroines are around fifteen to sixteen. As you'd expect, in some ways their stories are the same, yet, in other ways all three are different. All, for example, are coming-of-age stories. All focus on first love, or first significant romantic relationships. All are bittersweet, but in different ways. But each heroine is unique. The book is great at complexities. Of seeing the whole person from different angles, which made it easier perhaps to take Atticus' advice. I cared about all three.

I definitely would recommend this one.

© 2014 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Searching for Sky (2014)

Searching for Sky. Jillian Cantor. 2014. Bloomsbury USA. 288 pages. [Source: Review copy]

I would definitely recommend Jillian Cantor's Searching for Sky. I found it impossible to put down. Sky and River live together on an island, or, perhaps I should say THE ISLAND. Sky and River have been raised on the island. Sky does not remember life BEFORE the island. River, who was around four or five, does remember a few things about life in California. Both remember Helmut and Petal who died after eating mushrooms. Helmut was River's father; Petal was Sky's mother. Though these two have been raised as brother and sister, before Petal's death, she told her daughter that soon--very soon--she would start having all these feelings and desires for River, and that would be a good thing. The novel opens on Sky's sixteenth birthday. These opening chapters give readers an idea of what life is like on the island for two isolated teenagers; they have survival skills to a certain degree. But the two are rescued and returned to California. Sky's world is about to crumble. It will get worse before it gets better.

Sky does NOT want to be rescued. Sky does NOT want to live in California with other people, in a society that she thinks her mother despised. She does not like feeling ashamed and scared and confused and frustrated and angry. Life has suddenly become too much, too overwhelming. Because she has no memories of life before--she was under the age of two when she arrived on the island--she doesn't understand the most simplest, basic things that everyone takes for granted: forks, plates, toilets and sinks, pencils and paper. She'll need to learn EVERYTHING if she's to function in this strange, new world that readers are oh-so-familiar with. And that might not be the hardest part to accept: there are facts about her mother and Helmut that will challenge her incredibly.

I found Sky's story to be very compelling. I would definitely recommend this one.

© 2014 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

The Good Lie (2014)

The Good Lie. Robin Brande. 2014. Ryer Publishing. [Source: Review copy]

The Good Lie is a dark, haunting, compelling story of a broken family. While each member of the family might have their own story to tell, their own version of events, readers get Lizzie Aimes' story. Since Lizzie, at times, questions her interpretation of her family's MESS, it's only natural for readers to entertain a doubt or two as well. Lizzie, when we first meet her, is quite charming. Readers see her preparing for prom with her best friend, Posie. Her younger brother, Mikey, is hanging around. There is some teasing, some laughing. Things seemed so good, so normal. Lizzie's "big" problem is Jason. She really, really, really is falling for Jason, a boy who does not share her value system. In other words, he does not want a girlfriend. He wants lots of casual partners to hook up with. He would LOVE for Lizzie to be one of them. He would LOVE for Posie to be one of them. Lizzie is smart enough to know that feeling the way she does, Jason is just trouble. To be near him, to watch him with other girls, is painful and awkward because she wants it to be her, and, not be her at the same time. Jason, of course, knows that Lizzie has a tender spot for him.

That was her "big problem" before. She returns home from prom to a different situation entirely. Her mom is gone. She's left her husband and her two children. She has admitted that she's having an affair and is in love with another man. This is the catalyst for the BIG, BIG, BIG mess that follows.

Lizzie witnesses her family crumble. She sees her father change, in some ways very dramatically change. She sees the stress on her brother. She feels it herself. But it is her worry--her deep, deep worry for him--that leads Lizzie to ultimately make a life-changing decision.

Throughout the novel, their is a focus on justice, on doing the right thing even if its hard. That is what makes The Good Lie so thought-provoking in a way. Does Lizzie do the right thing? Do the ends justify the means? Can doing something morally wrong ever be the right thing to do? In other words, is there such a thing as A GOOD LIE. There are no easy questions to these questions.

The Good Lie definitely has adult situations in it, it is not a book for younger readers.

© 2014 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Heartbeat (2014)

Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott. 2014. Harlequin. 256 pages. [Source: Library]

Heartbeat is definitely an intense read with the potential to stay with readers. The heroine of Heartbeat is a young woman, Emma. She is in shock, in grief. She's angry; she's sad; she's all over the place. She wants things the way they were before, but, slowly oh-so-slowly coming to terms with the idea that something good could come in the future. The one person she wants to talk to most, of course, is her mom. She can physically go to her mom's room and talk, but, there will never be an answer again: her mom is on life support, she's being kept alive by machines for the sake of her unborn baby. Those ten weeks or so seem IMPOSSIBLE to young Emma. For better or worse, she can't bring herself to admit that her stepdad might be making the best decision, the right decision, the decision that her mom would make if she could. Seeing her mom alive-but-dead breaks her heart every single day. Yet, to the hospital she continues to go day by day. For the sake of her mom, or, so she tells herself. She feels that her mom is forgotten, that the unborn baby, is all. But readers don't just meet Emma. They also meet Olivia, Emma's best friend, and Caleb, a bad boy who might possibly understand the pain of loss better than anyone else in town. Emma and Caleb come together in Heartbeat, and, it's something.

Definitely recommended!

© 2014 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

The Impossible Knife of Memory (2014)

The Impossible Knife of Memory. Laurie Halse Anderson. 2014. Penguin. 400 pages. [Source: Library]

The Impossible Knife of Memory is an intense read. Hayley Kincain, our heroine, has endured more than her fair share of problems. Her father, a soldier with PTSD, is incapable of taking care of himself. He's unable to hold a job. He's unable to keep his word. Hayley has to be the responsible one, she's raising herself essentially, and looking out for her dad too. It isn't easy. He has drug and alcohol issues. He can be violent and start fights. He can be a stubborn, fierce opponent. Hayley and her dad have returned to his hometown. They are living in her grandma's house. She is attending a (real) school for the first time that she can remember. She is struggling to learn the rules that most of her classmates have known for years. But she's got one great best friend, and, a potential love interest as well.

The Impossible Knife of Memory is a wonderful novel about broken people, very broken people. I definitely liked Hayley. I really, really loved Finn, her boyfriend. I really liked Gracie, her best friend. I was glad we got to know some adults as well: Andy (the dad) and Trisha (the "stepmother").

© 2014 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

Bubble World (2013)

Bubble World. Carol Snow. 2013. Henry Holt. 352 pages. [Source: Library]

I liked many things about Bubble World. I didn't think it was the most amazing novel ever, but, as a whole, I thought it was an intriguing world. Especially if you consider the characters as products of their environment.

The main character of Bubble World is a young teen girl named Freesia (Francine). Think of some of the scenes from Clueless (especially in terms of closets and friends) and you wouldn't be wrong. Her perfect island life is what it is: completely superficial and ridiculous. It becomes apparent from the start that Freesia has never really had any uncomfortable stressful moments in her life; all ease, all pleasure, all the time. Take her school, for example, no homework, no tests, the language teachers switch to English whenever a student asks, they can have classes indoor or outdoor, again depending on what the student wants, and the whole point seems to be eating, drinking, and talking. Some of the classes Freesia takes are foreign languages, but, other courses are on applying eyeliner. It sounds over-the-top because it is. In Freesia's defense, this is her normal, this is the only life she knows, she's never questioned it because she's never been encouraged to ask real questions, her slight questions always always go in her favor. Freesia's life is essentially boundary-and-authority free. It turns out that it's not a life at all, for better or worse, when glitches occur throwing Freesia out of her perfect world, she lands in reality and it is not good news for anyone.

Her parents have spent three years or so with their daughter in a virtual reality box in a recliner, essentially dead to them as far as interactions go. Their daughter being gone is their normal. And they want to help her get back to her perfect life very, very quickly. It becomes apparent to readers that Freesia and Angel (the younger sister) have questionable parents. They seem just as selfish and clueless as Freesia at times. Sure, they live in the "real world" but the father is so stuck in the past and stuck in his ways and doesn't really care about anything but shoe insoles that it's hard to find a good role model in him. And the mother is all about promotion and popularity. She vlogs, I believe. And her online reputation is ALL that matters to her. She is definitely exploiting her daughter, in my opinion, while ignoring the basic needs of her other daughter. What the whole family needs--besides some common sense--are communication skills. Long story short, Freesia is forced due to various circumstances to spend a week or two in the real world and the shock of it all is fierce. She attends public school. She meets real teachers with real expectations (of sorts). She meets people her own age. There are so many awkward moments. She just doesn't have a clue on how to live: how to talk, how to walk, how to make friends, how to actually work. Being in the real world is putting pressure on her giving her her first opportunity to learn and grow. (For an example of an awkward moment: Freesia is completely, completely overwhelmed by stairs. She just cannot walk down them, she's too terrified. She scoots down stairs on her bottom one step at a time, and she crawls on her hands and knees back up stairs.)

The world-building was nicely done, in my opinion. The characters were shallow and stupid, but, that was part of the whole premise. Teens were drugged before entering the game, erasing their memory, and they were kept happy with drugs during the game, and the only world they knew was the created world with the shallow, materialistic focus. Their parents were essentially paying someone to brainwash their children and make them incapable of real life. For some money, they could essentially stop parenting their children, they could let go of all their responsibilities.
© 2014 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews