Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber

‘You shot him. You totally shot that guy back there. I think I’m gonna throw up.’

One ordinary guy.

One female assassin.

Five targets by daybreak…

When Gobi lands in Perry’s life, she rips it apart like a bombshell.

That is the blurb on the back of the book. And let’s just say this is one hell of a ride through New York. A thriller that will appeal to male readers as well as female.

Perry is a normal year 12 student. He has friends that give him a hard time about being a virgin, he has a dad that gives him a hard time about getting into college. To do law. At Colombia. He’s given up the swim team and taken an unpaid job at his father’s law firm to show he means business, but he won’t give up his band. He’s a good guy. Ordinary, but good.

Gobi is the girl exchange student from Lithuania that Perry’s mother insisted on hosting. She keeps to herself and is a bit of a weirdo. She makes no real attempt to fit in and hides away in her room Skyping her family back home.

So when Perry’s mum insists he take Gobi to the school prom instead of playing the gig he and his band have spent a lot of money preparing for, Perry isn’t having any of it. Perry’s dad steps all over him and come prom night, Perry is driving his dad’s Jag to the prom with Gobi in a strange bag-like dress that she says is traditional Lithuanian dress. Perry is going to have to make it a quick prom trip so he doesn’t get laughed at, and get to the club in New York to play that gig he didn’t tell his dad he refused to cancel.

What happens next, Perry could never have imagined. He is caught up in Gobi’s plans. Her aim: to kill five men responsible for the death of someone close to her. She is not really a high school exchange student but a highly trained 24 year old assassin on a mission. Prom night is the one night all five will be in New York and she is going to get them all by dawn.

The story hits all the expected highs, lows and hurdles and there are a few twists that aren’t so obvious. The main story is a fast paced action ride in a stylish Jag. There is a subplot involving Perry’s dad that fleshes out Perry’s character and makes you really want to get behind him and believe in him. This subplot eventually collides with the main story in a spectacular showdown with criminals, an assassin, a hostage, guns and blood.

 

There is no real romance thread, which was quite refreshing, it really gave way to the action. It was a fast read, mainly because it’s not a book you really want to put down. It would be like pausing a movie mid-explosion.

See the book trailer here 

It is also listed on IMDb as 'in development' so there is a possible movie in the works! 

Be my friend on goodreads

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

So many people ‘in the know’ have been raving about this book as the most amazing YA book published recently. I’m here to tell you, maybe not. Oh shock horror, faint dead away, blah blah, get over it. I’m not saying it’s not a good book, it just took me a very long time to get into it, yet I am reluctant to say it is not a good read.

Liesel Memminger (12) is sent to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann in the poor part of a German town during WWII. The foster parents want the allowance they will get from fostering and Liesel’s mother may or may not be a Jew. On the train ride there, Liesel’s little brother chokes to death in her arms and for almost the entirety of the book she has nightmares about it. Liltingly, Liesel grows closer to her foster parents as it becomes apparent that her mother is missing. Hans teaches her to read and books become a treasured possession for her, mostly stolen from the Mayor’s library.

Then Max turns up on the doorstep. A dirty Jew and he knows it. He is not fit to hide in the Hubermann’s basement he tells them, but he takes their hospitality anyway. Max and Liesel form a close bond that never seems pedophilic, so kudos to Zusak for getting that balance right. Will Max be found? Will there be enough to feed four mouths when there was never enough to feed three? What will happen as the bombings get closer to their street?

Told from the viewpoint of death himself, the narrative often skips ahead and tells the almost ending of a chapter at the beginning, preferring to revel in the telling of the story rather than excite the reader with anticipation. This annoyed me greatly. The prose is wonderfully lyrical and unusual but the style seemed overused, almost forced in places. It made me feel like the backflipped descriptions lost a little of their punch because there were so many. The German language references were a little much in the beginning, it was almost a lesson. For a book quite obviously meant to be read slowly over days, weeks and savoured, it was hard keeping up with the German words. Yes, they were carefully crafted into the prose with seamless explanations but there were so many of them, they fell out of my head by the time I got to pick the book up again.

This is more of a literary book catorgorised as YA. The main character is young and a YA audience would identify with her, but it is a character exploration rather than a fast paced plot driven book. This is not bad; it just makes it a slow read in the beginning. The last third of the book starts to pull in the drawstring and the plot moves faster. I was very surprised to find myself moved to (almost) tears at the end after I had taken so long to get into the book. I hope the slow start does not put readers off before they reach the end.

Zusak in his own words about The Book Thief

Shift by Em Bailey

Olive is an upper secondary student who isn’t crazy…anymore. She’s behaving now, taking her meds, not wagging school and staying the hell away from the ‘wonks’ she used to hang out with. Shift is Em Bailey’s first young adult novel and she has a clear understanding of the genre. Bailey captures honestly the insular thoughts of a teenage girl on the edge of sanity, struggling to come to terms with her parents’ separation. Every kid blames themselves in some way at sometime for a parent leaving, but Olive has more reason than most to blame herself. Her behaviour leading up to her father leaving was atrocious to say the least and let’s not forget her ‘episode’.

The thriller element is wound expertly through this novel, as information is drip-fed to the reader at the right intervals. The reader knows as much as Olive, but they have a more sane perspective, like her best and only friend, Ami. Ami is Olive’s only voice of reason, the sensible one, whose occasional crazy idea is Olive’s gauge as to how well she is keeping a hold on her sanity. If Olive knocks back the crazy talk – like skipping school as she used to do with Katie – she’s ok. So when Ami doesn’t argue with her crazy ideas about the new girl Miranda, Olive is sure she is on the right track.

Miranda starts at Olive’s school amidst wild rumours about the reason she is an orphan. Miranda is a killer and she murdered her own parents. It doesn’t help that Miranda has moved in with her aunt, the town’s ‘Loony Oona’. Although these ugly rumours are dispelled by their teacher on Miranda’s first day, Olive can’t shake the strange buzzing in her ears that seems to be a warning whenever Miranda is near.

As Olive watches from a distance, Miranda’s new friendship with Katie seems to becoming oddly parasitic. Katie seems to be wasting away while Miranda thrives. Only Ami listens when Olive voices her concerns of conspiracy theories. Olive must save her ex-best friend…from what? Is her life really in danger or is Olive just letting her imagination run away with her again?

This is where Bailey weaves the magic. The story is told as if nothing is happening, as if everything can be explained away as a normal high school existence seen through the eyes of an overly imaginative and self-indulgent teenager. Yet the reader is propelled through from one incident to another, not waiting for something to start happening, but wanting to know if the next incident will be the one that proves beyond a doubt that Olive is right. Occasionally things cannot be explained away and Bailey expertly brushes them under the carpet like a teacher or parent would.

Thrown into the mix is new guy Lachlan. He’s the lifesaver type with broad shoulders, good looks and a great smile. Katie has claimed him for her group, trying to set him up with one of her friends. He’s got all the right ingredients to be a part of her popular group and not a ‘road accident’ like Olive. Olive's not interested in him. No correction, she could be, if she believed he were really interested in her and not trying to pull some kind of prank on her so Katie can laugh at her. Anyway, her ideal guy is Dallas, the lead singer of the indie band Luxe that no one has ever heard of. His lyrics speak to her soul.

So believable is this characteristic trait of Olive’s that it paints a picture of a true ‘emo’ girl. Not one who is the kind to throw glitter on her boyfriend and clip blue extensions into her ironed black hair, but one who gets lost in music and tries to find herself in thrift shop clothes that follow no trend. Olive is different in every sense of the word, yet anyone who reads this book will identify with her struggle to keep her grip on who she is before she has even figured it out.

The setting is universal, written so incidentally that it could be any coastal town in the western world. This helps it have a broader appeal. It could be picked up by an American or British teenager as easily as an Australian, and none would be put off by a setting that they can’t picture, that doesn’t allow them access to the characters.

The twist involving Ami sneaks up on the reader, resetting the story mid-way, wiping the slate almost clean for Miranda. Or does it? A guessing game from beginning to end that you won’t want to put down.

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Imagine a world where chocolate, coffee and Prozac are illegal and resources are scarce. One minute showers are enforced by timers no matter how rich you are. In 2082, New York could look like this.

Sixteen year old Anya Balanchine's father used to be the head of his family run chocolate company. He was killed in a professional hit that also claimed Anya's mother and left her older brother, now eighteen, with the mental age of an eight year old. Anya's ailing grandmother just has to stay alive two more years before Anya can take over as legal guardian for her brother and little sister. Anya has no desire to join in her family's Russian mobster lifestyle, but her extended family won't let her go unchecked.

Win Delacroix is the new boy at Holy Trinity School and his dad is the new District Attorney. So why is he interested in Anya? It's not like she can take him out to any of the usual hangouts, since they're coffee speakeasys. When Anya is arrested for attempted murder, the DA insists she stay away from Win. She must choose between the boy she loves and her family on the brink of a gangland war.

The first thing I noticed is how cleverly referenced the futuristic elements are. They are just an extreme case scenario of how we live now. Water restrictions, resource rationing, these things are happening now in different degrees. The social, criminal and political situation brought about by prohibition of chocolate and coffee is similar to that of the 1930s when alcohol was prohibited in America. But by far the cleverest way Zevin grounded the future setting in the present was with Anya's grandmother, Galina. Galina was born in 1995, which would make her the same age as the target audience, if the story were set in the present. When Anya is having trouble coming to terms with a situation, she talks to her grandmother, who says how it was in her day. 'Her day' being the reader's present.

It's an interesting take on the mafia Godfather story, which should please those sick of vampire romances. There is enough romance in this novel to keep everyone happy, with heart racing and heart stopping moments, all set in that perfect blend of fantasy-reality to keep readers of both genres interested. Anya is perpetually guilty yet actually innocent, the things she is guilty of doing are all normal, everyday teenage things that somehow impact her life in varying degrees of severity, some of which cause the death and near deaths of people close to her. Reputation, assumption and family will ensure she becomes and remains what she was born to be: a mobster.

This looks to be the first book in a series called Birthright. It ends on a high note, so it could be a stand alone novel, but expertly woven into the fabric of the story are suggestions that Anya could become a formidable leader and together with Win and her family's Japanese business counterpart, she could once again make chocolate legal, legitimizing her family's activities and cutting corruption. That would make an interesting read. If she does succeed, I hope that someone within her family plots to take her down, just so it doesn't become too syrupy.

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

I finally got my first ARC (advanced reader copy) from PanMcMillan and I have been a little slack at getting the reviewing done. Not that it wasn't a good read, it was and I read it cover to cover in one go. It's just life got in the way. As it does.

Glow is up for release on October 1st 2011 and is the first in the series Sky Chasers. Apparently it is ‘the most riveting series debut since The Hunger Games’.  Not having read The Hunger Games, I can’t really comment on the comparison, but it held my interest enough that I didn't want to put it down.

It is told from two viewpoints, 16 year old Waverly and her boyfriend,17 year old Kieran. They are the first of the new generation of people born on a starship, the Empyrian, bound for a far off planet to start civilisation anew. A few things are hinted at in the set up, which is great, gets your mind whirring right away as to what the plot and twists might be. And since this is a series, not all of those flags raised are lowered by the end of the book. The long reaching arc is well planned and executed in this first book.

The excitement begins when The Empyrean is attacked, seemingly unprovoked, by its sister ship, the New Horizon. All the young girls are kidnapped and the boys are left survive on their own as most of the parents have been killed or have taken off on a rescue mission in a shuttle. 

By splitting the viewpoints between Waverly and Kieran, the reader sees of what is happening on both ships and how they are both working towards the same end - the continuation of the human race, but how differently they go about it. The New Horizon is a religious ship, the Empyrean, secular. Both sides of the argument are shown and it becomes increasingly hard to discern who is in the right. Maybe there is a bit of wrong and a bit of right in both of their methods. But this is not the type of storyline where religious fundamentalists are one dimensional characters that only do bad things in the name of God. This is where the double viewpoint comes into its own. Where as Waverly suffers abuse in the name of God, Kieran rediscovers God in his time of need and uses the strength it gives him to give the boys on board the Empyrean hope. The viewpoints are well balanced, which makes it hard to take sides and decide in which direction the next book will go.

My biggest problem with this novel is the way they are trying to sell it, with the tagline 'Her heart will determine their fate'. Because I am not really sold on the love story. Kieran is supposed to be perfect, and perfect for Waverly but she's not so sure. She doesn't really seem like a lovesick teenager. Of course, what teen romance is complete without the third person in the triangle? Enter Seth, the darkly intriguing guy who has had a crush on Waverly since they were kids? He's more interesting than bland, boring Kieran, who does everything right. Or does he? There is so much back and forth between the two as to which would be the better choice for Waverly, that you almost forget that actually, she's more interesting in surviving than getting married and starting a family. 

It would be best and idealistic if Waverly and Kieran led the children to an idyllic paradise several light years away and began the next generation of people to populate it. But life isn’t perfect and idyllic and Seth can think for himself. He understands the lows humans can sink to, whereas Kieran does not. Maybe Seth is better equipped to deal with the unknown. They both love differently, so which love does Waverly need? Each time you decide on one, the other proves himself the better human, or the stronger leader. Which is best for the mission? I really want to get into Seth's head and I hope the next book tells some of the story from his point of view.

Touch Me by James Moloney

I can't even remember why I checked this one out of the library. The blurb on the back reads like it was written by a woman and the book is quite obviously written by a dude. Not that it's a bad thing, a book written by a dude, it's just the book wasn't what I expected. Yeah sure it had a fiesty, troubled girl in it that the main character, Xavier falls for. But dangerous? No, not really. A novel with a romance in it, but a romance novel? No, not really. It skates between a statement about all male private schools with legacy students (too much testosterone + too much money + parental pressure = best mates falling out) and a coming of age romance.

Xavier is a bit naive about girls, probably because he goes to an all boys school, and probably because he's 17. He tries to do the right thing and is generally a good kid. Nothing extraordinary really happens to him, it happens to everyone around him and he deals with the effects. He plays rugby for the school and so do all his mates, and he bags himself a very unusual girlfriend.

Nuala wants to be an actress. She dresses like a boy and mimics them until no one is sure if she is a boy or a girl or a cross dressing dyke. Xavier doesn't care, he likes that she's different. To a point. It is hinted that something sinister pushed Nuala to dress and behave this way. So Xavier has to deal with it. And the rumours that he is gay and dating a boy. His friend Alex is recovering from cancer, trying to reintegrate into school after a year off for treatment, Xavier is there for him. The only thing that Xavier does is realise that Nuala is a shining star that he can not pin down, which is a bit of a stretch for such a naive lad.

The way it all plays out against the school's rugby season pushes the story forward in a unique manner, making it possibly appeal to a male audience. Although Xavier doesn't really do much except react until right at the end, it is quite believable that this is a teenaged boy. The side characters make his life colourful and the Alex storyline brought a tear. And did Xave's school win the rugby premiership finals? Does it matter? The book wasn't about rugby anyway.

Five Parts Dead by Tim Pegler

Tim Pegler filled in for my writing for YA tutor a few weeks back and after he'd gone over what she had left him to do, he asked us if there was anything we wanted to know from him. So after a small amount of discussion, he told us the story of how he came to write Five Parts Dead, where the idea came from and how the editing process went. I was so intrigued I went to library straight away and borrowed the book. Actually, I looked up my local library catalogue online whilst Tim was still talking, I was that excited.

He said it was based in historical fact, the storyline about the mysterious grave on an island, the lighthouse keeper logbook with missing pages. And the idea of having five close shaves with death - how many until you actually die? - came from Tim's own brushes with death.

Despite having been warned about the graphic nature of the book, there was only one part that was graphic, and I wasn't bothered by it. It was completely in context with the story and could even serve as an educational tool against drink driving. Not that this book was written as that - far from it. The story is told from 17 year old Dan's point of view. It is authentic in its voice, with Dan struggling to come to terms with his mates' deaths and his survivor's guilt, set against the backdrop of a family holiday to a remote island with an old lighthouse. Dan has an almost supernatural bond with his twin sister that he re-discovers as well as a possible romance with her best friend that turns his head as they discover what happened to the original inhabitants of the cottage they are staying in.

But what sold me on it was, I wanted to know about the young girl whose grave was facing the wrong way in a cemetery of only sixteen souls. Why had people covered up what had happened to her so it was almost impossible for Tim's research to find anything out about her? I needed closure on that and Tim wouldn't give it. So I read the book, and I am so glad I did.