Book Review: Withering Tights

Title: Withering Tights

Author: Louise Rennison

Publisher: Harper Teen (and imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)

On-Sale Date: June 17, 2011

Length: 275 pages

Format: ARC paperback

Tallulah Casey is ready to be a star.  She’s wants people to see past her knobby knees and into her shining soul.
She’s going to be spending her summer at Dother Hall, an arts academy for girls (no need to worry; there’s an all boys school in the area!).
Tallulah could not be more excited and anxious for her summer to begin, even though, deep down, she doesn’t really know what to expect.  Tallulah is unsure of her talents, and must excel in her classes, if she wants to ever return to Dother Hall.
Keeping in mind that she cannot fail, Tallulah begins forging new friendships and a reputation.


Withering Tights was one of the most wonderfully ridiculous books I had ever read.
I didn't know a book could be quirky, but Withering Tights could definitely be described as such.

Tallulah was something else.  I could certainly have said, that I had never encountered a character like her.  She made up words and had the nerve to spontaneously break out into song and dance.  Tallulah was a fun narrator.  She was still quite innocent, and didn’t have any adult worries weighing her down.

Tallulah was old enough to feel embarrassment, but young enough to not let self consciousness take over.  She went through some pretty mortifying situations, but just kept on kicking.  When she fell on her butt she just got right back up and tried again.

Tallulah always kept you guessing.  She wasn’t the same on every page.  Tallulah was trying to figure out what she wanted to be known for.  The great thing about reading a character so young was that she hadn’t discovered herself yet.  You got to share her journey, and were there when she figured out who she was.
Tallulah was just so awkward, it was comical.  At times, Lulah and her antics were laugh out loud hilarious.

Tallulah fit in well with her fellow girls of Dother Hall.  The girls all had this electric energy and they fed off of one another.  They complimented each other nicely.  It certainly didn’t hurt that every character had their own personal brand of nuttiness.
When boys came into the picture there was a whole new brand of hilarity and wonder brought to the story.  Tallulah's mates had minimal experience with the opposite sex, and it was endearing to read.  Every boy that was added certainly mixed up the plot.

This novel was just plain fun.  The characters were upbeat and weird, (some more weird than others), and the plot had you on a roller coaster that took you along for the ride.

Withering Tights was face paced.  Tallulah didn’t stay in the same place for long.  You couldn’t keep up with her and you couldn’t catch her, so you just had to enjoy the story that was being told.

This was the first book by Louise Rennison that I had read.  The British words and made up language used in the novel took some time getting used to (and occasionally tested my patience).  There were times that I encountered multiple unfamiliar words on the same page, which took away from the Withering Tights experience.  There was a glossary in the back, but it didn't hold all of the words I looked for.

You needed to embrace knobby kneed Lulah or you wouldn’t have enjoyed the story.
Her character growth in Withering Tights was just right, and allowed for more to be told of Tallulah’s story; growing pains and all.

Reading Withering Tights was like imagining the funniest thing that could have happened and then something even funnier would occur.

I would read another story about Tallulah Casey without a second thought.

In my opinion, there was a lesson you could take from Withering Tights, (besides bicycle ballets are dangerous).  You should be proud of who you are, and use your insecurities to your best advantage, because as soon as Tallulah did, she felt empowered and was ready to take on whatever the future held instore.

All in all, I missed Tallulah and her friends, soon after I was done.

Rating

Premise: 3/5

Plot: 4/5

Writing: 4/5

Characters: 5/5

Overall: 4/5

Disclosure: I received an advanced copy from the publisher. This did not influence my review in any way.

Book Review: The Splendor Falls

Title: The Splendor Falls

Author: Rosemary Clement-Moore

Publisher: Delacorte Press (a registered trademark of Random House Inc.)

On-Sale Date: January 11, 2011

Length: 513 pages

Format: Trade paperback

Sylvie Davis has been sent away.  She’s going to be spending some time with her deceased father’s cousin, Paula.  Most importantly, she’s going to have some time away from her life.  Sylvie will be staying in Bluestone Hill Inn as Cousin Paula is the owner.  It is the perfect place for Sylvie to have some time to herself, and to explore the large property that surrounded her.
After the nasty accident of breaking her leg on stage, (otherwise known as "The Accident"), Sylvie became a different person.  She can’t dance anymore, and is devastated.  So, her new step-father, along with her mother, decide that some time away from home would be best for everyone.
Sylvie arrives at Bluestone Hill with her chihuahua, Gigi, and in a less than cheery mood.  She didn’t ask to come there, but if anything, maybe it’ll bring her closer to her dad again.
Despite her less than stellar attitude, Sylvie doesn’t seem to have trouble making friends.  Two people in particular are immediately interested in Sylvie.  There’s Rhys, the mysterious guest, and Shawn, the all-around golden boy.  There’s definitely animosity between those two,  and could Sylvie be the cause?
Although Sylvie is drawn to both boys and the secrets they keep hidden, she’s even more curious about the story surrounding Bluestone Hill.  And who is that she keeps seeing running through the darkness?


I truly enjoyed reading The Splendor Falls.
It was a scary story with its own twist.

One of the main characters was Sylvie’s chihuahua, Gigi.  It isn’t often that a main character has four legs and barks.  I loved this puppy.  She was the best furry friend to Sylvie.  Gigi was a friendly counterpart to her owner’s snappy moods and surly attitude.  She made the entire town and tenants of Bluestone Hill melt.  I have never been a huge animal lover, but my heart was touched by Gigi throughout the story.  She was just as important to the story as Sylvie.

Sylvie lost everything.  She lost her whole life.  Dancing was everything to her, and breaking her leg nearly broke her.  Sylvie knew no other lifestyle, but had to build one on a broken dream.  Her mother, step-father, step-brother, and psychologist all believed that they knew what was best for her.  Unfortunately for everyone else, (Team Help-Sylvie-Get-A-Life), Sylvie was the only one who could figure it all out for herself.  Still, they made the decision for her to spend her summer with Cousin Paula in a small southern town far from her native Manhattan.  It was there that Sylvie was supposed to find her bearings.  It truly was a good place to start, because this was where her father, who meant everything to her, spent his summers growing up.  She was lost when her father died.   She really needed to find a part of him again.  Even dead, Sylvie’s dad was there for her more than her mother ever was.

Sylvie had such a presence.  She didn’t quite know who she was yet, but she made herself known.  Sylvie was confident despite the seemingly downward spiral she had been caught in.  She had a level head on her shoulders, but had trouble believing in herself, because the people that surrounded her no longer trusted her completely.  She didn’t want to cause any upset because this felt like her last chance.  Sylvie had made some mistakes that were taken the worst way, so she was shipped off to a distant family member.
Fortunately, this ballerina was much more than just beauty.  The fact that she wasn’t cuddly and prickled those around her, just added to her character.  Quite ironically, her closest friend was a puppy.  Sylvie was only gentle and caring with Gigi, and normally she bristled around everyone else.

She followed her instincts and didn’t let The Accident slow her down.  
When Sylvie danced she knew who she was, but when it was ripped away from her, she was forced to see who she could be without it.

There was a story hidden in Bluestone Hill, and it seemed like Sylvie was the one that was meant to uncover it.  Sylvie was almost convinced that she was truly going crazy.  She saw the unexplainable, but in a place with such history she wasn’t the only one that did.  There were many clues laid out for those who cared to look.
Sylvie wasn’t only meant to find herself that summer.  The story was more than her.  She was meant to find truth and answers, so the story could finally be put to rest.

The two boys interested in Sylvie from nearly the beginning, didn't make for a conventional love triangle.  The relationships between Sylvie, Rhys, and Shawn took continuous twists and turns until the reader was left in a constantly confused state.  Each boy had Sylvie questioning him, and it wasn’t until the end that it all made sense.  It was a well plotted mystery, because all the intricate pieces fell into place at the end.

The Splendor Falls was a wonderful, wonderful read.

Rating

Premise: 5/5

Plot: 5/5

Writing: 5/5

Characters: 5/5

Overall: 5/5

Disclosure: I received a finished copy from the author. This did not influence my review in any way.

Book Review: Forbidden

Title: Forbidden

Author: Tabitha Suzuma

Publisher: Simon Pulse (an imprint of Simon & Schuster Canada)

On-Sale Date: June 28, 2011

Length: 454 pages

Format: ARC paperback

This review contains mature content.

Before you read this review you need to know what incest is.  According to dictionary.com:
“incest:  sexual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry; also :  the crime of engaging in such sexual intercourse”.

I’m only discussing incest within the confines of Forbidden.  Any personal views on the subject are null and void.  I am only focusing on incest between these two fictional characters.  The opinions I have formed are only based on what I have read in Forbidden.

Lochan and Maya have always been there for each other.  Together they raise their younger brothers and sister.  Their mother is barely home.  Whatever money she hasn’t spent on alcohol goes to her five kids to pay the bills and buy groceries.
Their mother is spending less and less time at the house, and more time with her boyfriend leaving, everything to Lochan and Maya.
Having been born only thirteen months apart, Lochan and Maya have always been close.  They’re best friends and equals.
Only now they’re becoming closer than any siblings should be.
What happens when their relationship is wrong, but feels so natural?

Forbidden was first and foremost a book of love.
I never knew you could love someone so deeply.
This was not a book you would forget, and this story will remain a part of you.
The ache held your heart.  The sadness seeped into it.  This book would not let me go, nor did I want it to.

It was one of the most horribly depressing things I had ever read, but I did not regret having picked it up for one moment.  This was the best kind of pain.  I remain so completely grateful.  This was a beautiful, painful experience.

Love was equal to pain.

There was no possible fairytale ending for Lochan and Maya, but Tabitha ensured she gave them the best ending.  It was an ending that would be remembered.  It was horrible and devastating, and I expect to be haunted by it all for a long time.  The end was their final punishment.  They knew the world’s view on what they were doing, what they were feeling.
You could call it stupidity, but it was just desperate love.
Their love consumed them.
They loved each other in every way.  It killed them knowing the way they wanted to love each other was taboo in every way.

I constantly wanted to defend Lochan and Maya.  They were so fragile.
I wanted them to be able to keep their relationship, because it was what they needed.  They had always relied on each other  They had been through battles and deserved to keep what they wanted most.  It really seemed like they couldn’t live without one another.  They needed each other's presence nearby to survive.  They needed to be able to talk and touch (simply holding hands would do).
Their incestuous romantic relationship seemed to develop at a rapid pace, but sometimes the most powerful things do.  They had loved each other all their lives and for some reason that love, just changed to something different, unspeakable.

Forbidden did not condone incest or rape.  The reader simply explored these subjects through the character’s souls.

Normally, a couple so dependent on each other would be a sign that one or both characters was missing some strength or self respect or something. However, Lochan and Maya were bonded through a lifetime of only relying on each other.
Lochan and Maya lives’ were difficult to live.

This book was very upsetting.

Lochan had a paralyzing fear of all social situations.  Since he was in his senior year of high school the teachers had learned not to call on him.  He handed in written assignments in place of presentations, and spent breaks alone.  Lochan was practically incapable of having conversations with anyone outside his immediate family, unless the situation warranted it.  He was the school freak.  Unfortunately, even with those who stood by his side, it was immeasurably difficult to conquer his phobia.
You really wanted Lochan to be able to handle his fear.

The chapters alternated between Lochan and Mara’s perspectives.  It was important that the reader saw this story from both sides.  Forbidden wouldn’t have had as strong an impact, and the plot couldn’t have made as much sense, if the story was one sided.

The reader forged an immediate connection with the characters.  You saw the characters as individuals before they spiraled into an unbelievable romantic relationship.
It was forbidden, but it was hard to call it wrong when reading how they felt about each other.
You felt so much pity for them.  They were in so much pain, and their relationship was simply their outlet.  They clung together.  They were all each other had.  For years they counted on each other so completely, and cared for their siblings.  They didn’t know how to be without each other.

Everything was against them, except each other.

Their relationship always had a time limit.

All the characters that were created for the world of Forbidden fit into place, and were vital to the story.  The alcoholic mother was a dark cloud hanging over her children’s heads.  The younger siblings were only starting to get a sense that their family of five was not what society would have deemed normal.
Kit played a key role as the middle child.  He was volatile, and unsettled.  Like his older siblings, Kit had to grow up too quickly.  Everything took its tole.

I wished better for the Whitley children.

Once you were sucked into Forbidden it was very difficult to tear yourself away.
A million times you'd think it couldn't get worse, it couldn't get better, but it did, right until the end.

Rating

Premise: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Overall: 5/5


Disclosure: I received an advanced copy from the publisher. This did not influence my review in any way.

Love List (6)

This is going to be short and sweet.


This is what I love and have been thankful for this past month:


My dad.
Harry Potter.
The fact that I grew up in the Harry Potter generation.
Being glued to the computer screen for 3 hours watching the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
JK Rowling.
A Very Potter Musical.
A Very Potter Musical Soundtrack.
"Goin' Back To Hogwarts".
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma.
Really good fanfiction.
Knowing there are books and films to go back to when you're missing Harry Potter.


Love,
Terri

Early Book Review: Forever

Title: Forever

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls

Publisher: Scholastic Press (an imprint of Scholastic Inc.)

On-Sale Date: July 12, 2011

Length: 390 pages

Format: ARC paperback

At the end of the previous book we are left with an emotional pause in the story.  Now Grace is a wolf and Sam is waiting for her to return.  We don’t know if Sam is really cured, but we know he’ll be blamed for Grace’s sudden disappearance.  The only reason Grace lived to a third book was because of Cole.  He might be a self destructive pain, but he is also a genius.
In Forever, Cole must figure out what makes him and Sam and Grace and all the others turn into wolves.  He needs to figure out how to make them grow their human skins again, and he needs to figure it all out under a time crunch, because Tom Culpepper will not rest until the wolves of Mercy Falls have been annihilated.
Sam, Grace, Cole, and Isabel face their most dangerous dilemna yet.  They’ll need each other to survive it all if they can stop arguing, long enough.

This was a book of waiting.
Waiting for Grace.  Waiting for spring.  Waiting for Sam and Grace to be SamandGrace.  Waiting for a cure.  Waiting for answers.

Waiting for the waiting to be over.

I fell for these characters all over again, because these were characters I already loved.  These were characters I already cared about.  I wanted nothing more than for SamandGrace to sustain and conquer every obstacle.  I wanted Cole to have a breakthrough, and I wanted him to be okay.  I wanted Isabelle not to be angry anymore.
I wanted death and extermination to not be a possibility.

Every character had a similarity.  They all had a musicality about them.  They were written powerfully, and had the ability to say the most with the least.

Sam was heartbreaking in Forever.  There was so much pain and sadness written into his character.  He encountered things that he couldn’t overcome within the confines of Forever.  Things that would stay with him, and help shape him.  It was unbelievable to imagine even a fictional character carrying all that sorrow.
But even damaged, Sam could not break.

Cole was amusing.  A self destructive amusing, but we wouldn't want him any other way.
At the end of Linger, we were lead to believe that Cole would play a key role in Forever.  He was the genius wrapped in the body of a ruined rock star.  Cole was someone who came to Mercy Falls to get lost, but ironically, he found a purpose.  He believed he was already too far gone to be helped, but in helping the wolves, he found that he could live with himself again.

I read these words with wider eyes.   Emotion blead through the lines of this installment.

Everything was unexpected, and everything was predictable.
There were parts you could have foretold.  And there were pieces that you could not have seen coming.  It was the obvious that broke you.

Forever was where all the pain and all the hardships were collected in one final story.  The characters that lived past and lived through Forever would find happiness and solace in each other.

There was one tiny miracle that readers would be grateful and thankful for.  But I questioned why.

Near the end you’d picture the perfect fantasy of what you wanted to happen.  And you realized that you couldn’t make these characters live happily ever after.  Forever was filled with reality when the foundation was made of make-believe.  In reality.  Not every character.  Gets a happy ending.

There were times where the characters switched roles.  The logical became emotional.
Except for Cole.  He was forever a logical voice even though his methods were entirely unorthodox.

Time was a ticking bomb.  Time was always an issue.  But when characters found happiness time stood still.  Time didn’t matter for those fleeting moments.

Many times it seemed like none of these characters ever got a break, but you could not have gone through what they had and have everything fall perfectly into place.  Sometimes these characters had to hold onto what was most important and let the rest go.

Finishing Forever, I felt numb.  Then numbness gave way to sadness.  Sad that it ended.  Sad for the things that happened.  Sad for things that didn’t.  Sad that you never got a concrete answer.  Sad that you wouldn’t know.

It was sad for so many reasons, and it made me sad for so many more.  You’d think the ending was simple, but it wasn’t.  You knew the characters deserved to be happy, but there was so much against them.  There was so much lost and not enough time.  Not enough answers or explanations.

Beginning Forever you could picture the direction the plot could take, but this book could not be contained to only one path.  There were too many characters for everything to slide into place.  It would have been impossible for each of them to get everything they wanted.
These characters were written raw and emotional.  Their feelings were laid out for the reader.

Every story has to end but this ending felt so abrupt.  After living with these characters for years, and after the events of Forever there should have been more closure.  I’m left with a feeling of longing.
It could be quite possible that this was the author’s intention, because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this novel.  I haven’t let go of the story yet.

There were so many questions.  Not all were answered.
We’re left with the unknown.

I wish it didn’t
end.

Forever was truly an emotional read and only left you questioning.

Rating

Premise: 5/5

Plot: 3/5

Writing: 5/5

Characters: 4/5

Overall: 4/5


Disclosure: I received an advanced copy when I attended Book Expo America in NYC this year. This did not influence my review in any way.