Review: The Honest Truth

By Dan Gemeinhart
Available now from Scholastic Press
Review copy

I was 100% sure I did not want to read a novel about a twelve-year-old boy with cancer, but I was convinced to give this one a try anyway because of some trustworthy people gushing about the writing.  I must say that the writing is lovely, especially the little haiku Mark comes up with on his journey.

THE HONEST TRUTH evokes old-school adventure novels, just a boy and his dog surviving on their own.  The boy is not stranded by a plain crash nor parental death or abandonment.  He runs away to climb Mt. Rainier, which he promised to climb before he died.  And he's afraid, and angry, now that his cancer is back.  He fought a long, four-year fight, and Mark's not sure if he's up for fighting again, even if he doesn't want to die.

That angry part is important.  I loved that Mark is not a nobly suffering kid with cancer.  He is tired of being the nobly sick child.  He makes a lot of bad decisions in THE HONEST TRUTH, but they do feel like they come from an honest place.  They come from anger and despair and fear.

There are places where the novel falls apart for me.  The chapters alternate with interstitials from Jessie, Mark's best friend who knows where he is running.  I wasn't thrilled by the depiction of their friendship, but horrified that she wouldn't realize this is not a time to keep her friend's secret, especially when the weather turns worse.  I find the adult who knows that Mark is the runaway on television and does nothing to stop his foolhardy plan absolutely unbelievable.  I must agree with Mrs. Yingling that Mark choosing to take his small dog on this dangerous journey is unspeakable, rather than a beautiful portrayal of the bond between boy and companion.

I thought THE HONEST TRUTH was a beautifully told story, and I really liked that Dan Gemeinhart didn't turn it into a tearjerker.  THE HONEST TRUTH was much less sad than I expected.  At the same time, if you're handing this book to someone actually in the intended audience, I'd accompany it with a discussion about bad decisions.  I can just forgive the ailing twelve-year-old, but so many of the other characters act like they have no sense.

Review: The Vanishing Girl

First in a trilogy
By Laura Thalassa
Available now from Skyscape (Amazon)
Review copy

I'll admit that I wanted to read THE VANISHING GIRL entirely because I thought the cover was gorgeous.  I like the colors and the abstract strangeness, like a bit of classic sci-fi sneaking into a modern YA cover.

The eponymous girl is Ember Pierce, who teleports for ten minutes every night just after she falls asleep.  She thinks she used to it until she wakes up in a club and flirts with a man named Adrian, only to find a gun in her purse and a note telling her to kill him.  Rather sensibly, she panics more over someone knowing what she can do and trying to use her instead of attempting to assassinate a complete stranger.

Then she finds out that her parents could only have a child through an experimental program, and she now owes two years of service to the military.  It's very obviously illegal and preposterous, even in a world where people can teleport, so you just have to go with it.  At the school she's taken to she's paired with Caden Hawthorne, who is infuriatingly good at keeping her from escaping.  Ember falls for him in a rather rote manner, although I did appreciate that there wasn't a forced love triangle with Adrian.  The scenes between Ember and Caden are written with lots of tension, its just hard to believe she falls for him after how terribly he treats her at first.

Ember, unsurprisingly, starts to find more and more evidence that the school is sinister.  Because secret experiments on babies and being kidnapped weren't enough evidence that everything was bad new.  I sound cranky, I know.  I enjoyed reading THE VANISHING GIRL, and thought it was a a fun ride.  But after I finished, it was hard to seize on anything as a standout moment.  Also, it was one of those books without a real ending, which drives me nuts.

I am, however, eager to read the second book.  THE VANISHING GIRL ends with a cliffhanger, and I'm not sure how Ember will survive or how she'll react to what happened in the next book.  I also hope the next book has more Adrian, who is conducting his own investigation into the school and experiment outside its walls.

Review: Pacific Fire

Sequel to California Bones (my review)
By Greg van Eekhout
Available now from Tor (Macmillan)
Review copy

I've gotten used to series where one book leads directly into another.  PACIFIC FIRE starts ten years after CALIFORNIA BONES ends, which is a refreshing change of pace.  In fact, the entire book is a refreshing change of pace.

First, if you haven't read CALIFORNIA BONES, please do so.  It is a heist novel wrapped up in a well-developed urban fantasy world with a generous dollop of horror for flavor.  If you haven't read it, this review will be full of spoilers.

Daniel Blackland spent those ten years after the heist on the run with Sam, the Hierarch's golem.  Both are wanted because they'd be perfect ingredients in someone else's spell.  When Argent, an old frenemy comes with news that various factions in LA are banding together to build a dragon, Daniel knows he has to leave hiding to stop it.  The point of view switches between the three men, giving multiple perspectives on a dangerous mission gone wrong.

I love the world Greg van Eekhout is developing.  It's full of sinister and helpful characters, a lovely mix of the wonder of powerful magic and the horrible things that are done to make it stronger.  Despite the fact that most of Daniel and Sam's bonding happens off page, there's never a doubt about their father-son relationship.  It is a strong emotional anchor for the novel.  I liked that most of the characters from CALIFORNIA BONES who survived showed up again, although lamented that Cassandra gets the least to do.

This is a fast-paced novel that ends in a killer cliffhanger.  It is looser than CALIFORNIA BONES, since it doesn't have the heist structure.  But as crazy as things get, they never feel like they're out of van Eekhout's control.  I can't wait for the next book, because things are going to go down.  And based on the strength of PACIFIC FIRE and CALIFORNIA BONES, I trust van Eekhout to stick the landing.

Review: Tear You Apart

Companion novel to Kill Me Softly
By Sarah Cross
Available now from EgmontUSA
Review copy

EgmontUSA may be shutting down, but at least they're releasing their 2015 slate. The first one I just had to read is TEAR YOU APART, the companion to KILL ME SOFTLY.  The first book introduced Beau Rivage, the town where descendants of faerie-human unions are forced to live out curses, curses worse than living in Mississippi for the rest of your life.

One of the big differences between TEAR YOU APART and KILL ME SOFTLY is that Viv grew up in Beau Rivage.  She knows exactly what story she's living, and she fears it.  She is Snow White, which means the Huntsman Henley will either kill or save her.  If he saves her, her stepmother Regina will keep trying.  Once Viv loved both Regina and Henley.  But when Regina betrayed her true colors and Henley was cursed, Viv decided she couldn't trust anyone.  She can't keep herself from Henley, but she can't bring herself to trust him again either.

TEAR YOU APART weaves together "Snow White," "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," and "Rumpelstiltskin" in a darkly romantic tale.  Viv can be an utter spoiled brat, but getting out of her comfort zone and talking to people really forces her to take measure of her life.  And even when she's in spoiled brat mode, I admire her dedication to her own survival.  I liked the romance between her and Henley, but liked that she takes a chance when her prince Jasper shows up.  Even more, I like that she grows into being her own rescuer (as much as she can).

TEAR YOU APART will satisfy fans of fairytales who aren't afraid of some rather large liberties and some of the darker endings remaining in place.  Fans of KILL ME SOFTLY will enjoy that the cast of that novel makes cameo appearances.  Also nice: a reoccurring character is confirmed as a lesbian and there is a princess and princess couple that no one remarks upon.  Little details like that help the updated fairytale concept really work.

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In other news, today is Multicultural Children's Book Day.  The sponsors are holding a virtual book drive to support First Book.

Title Twins!

ETA:  Through 2/8, you can preorder VANISHING GIRLS for 4.99!

(Today is the last day to donate to the National Book Foundation in honor of National Readathon Day!)

I always love when I spot two books with (almost) identical titles.

I just finished reading THE VANISHING GIRL by Laura Thalassa, and I have VANISHING GIRLS by Lauren Oliver in my TBR.  I think the similarity in the authors' first names makes this one even better!

It looks like if you want a book about vanishing women, however, you have to go nonfiction: