Mini-Reviews: Young Adult Sequels

This is a very random selection of books; please forgive me.  But I'm trying to get caught up on my backlog so I'm throwing things together any way I can.

Under the Light by Laura Whitcomb
Sequel to A Certain Slant of Light
Available now from Houghton Mifflin BFC (Harcourt)
Review copy

A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT has a special place in my heart, because when I went to college it was the first book my roommate lent to me.  How could we not be great roommates when she started our relationship with an offbeat ghost romance?

Now, years later, Laura Whitcomb has written a sequel.  UNDER THE LIGHT is a terrific follow up.  Jenny and Billy are back in their bodies and very confused.  It's been months since the day they remember, but to everyone else they've been there the whole time acting out of character.  Oh yeah, and Billy has a picture of them in bed together.  As they begin to piece together what happened to them, they also begin to fall in love.

UNDER THE LIGHT is a slow book to develop, but oh so lovely.  I feel like Helen's story really ended in A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT and that her parts were a bit extraneous, although I can understand her feeling guilt about what she did to Jenny.  At the same time, I enjoyed spending more time with such a wonderful character.  I highly recommend this duology for anyone looking for paranormal romances that don't follow the usual mold.

Truth or Dare by Ella Monroe
Book Three of the Capital Girls
Available now from St. Martin's Griffin
Review copy
Read my reviews of CAPITAL GIRLS and SECRETS AND LIES

I've enjoyed the frothy, soapy Capital Girls series.  TRUTH OR DARE is the third book and brings the first arc to a conclusion.  I'm not sure if there will be another book, but TRUTH OR DARE brings all of the big questions to a close.

The series starts shortly after Taylor Cane's death and follows her three best friends: Jackie, Lettie, and Laura Beth.  In TRUTH OR DARE, they finally figure out some of what was haunting Taylor and causing her destructive behavior.  It definitely paints some of Taylor's actions in a better light.

At the same time the girls are moving on.  Jackie is defining herself and figuring out what she wants.  (Her love triangle ends brilliantly.)  Lettie actually seems to have a new arc starting that might take her character in an interesting direction.  And Laura Beth is having to grow up and think about people other than herself.  It's a good entry in the series, which is basically GOSSIP GIRL for people who like a little politics with their over-the-top teenage shenanigans.

Confederates Don't Wear Couture by Stephanie Kate Strohm
Sequel to Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink
Available now from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt BFYR
Review copy

I haven't read PILGRIMS DON'T WEAR PINK, but read CONFEDERATES DON'T WEAR COUTURE anyway because it looked quick and cute.  I was right.  Libby is blonde, bubbly, and loves fashion and history.  It doesn't take her friend Dev much work to convince her to travel with a Confederate reenactment army to help him sell his dress designs to the women who travel with the army.

CONFEDERATES DON'T WEAR COUTURE combines a love triangle with a ghost story and stirs in a hilarious best friend for a delightful summer read.  I liked that the book does not gloss over that the Confederate side was very, very wrong about slavery.  (Dev's motive for not going with the union?  They don't pay as much.  And really, all of the characters have differing opinions on the ethics of the Confederate reenactment army, which is quite realistic.)  I liked that the love triangle wasn't drawn out and that Dev got his own love interest.

I think CONFEDERATES DON'T WEAR COUTURE (and likely PILGRIMS DON'T WEAR PINK) is a good read for history lovers looking to read a contemporary.  And the descriptions of the dresses make me want one.  Too bad Dev isn't a real designer.

Review: Secrets and Lies

Book Two of the Capital Girls series
By Ella Monroe
Available now from St. Martin's Griffin
Review copy
Read my review of CAPITAL GIRLS

The Capital Girls are back!  Jackie is dealing with a stalker, Lettie is threatened with deportation, Laura Beth's boyfriend's parents are accused of being terrorists, and Whitney just wants to return to LA.  Just another day on the Hill.

I liked that SECRETS AND LIES called out a few of its sillier aspects in this entry.  It's pointed out that gossip about the president and her generation matters a lot more than whatever their kids are doing.  One of her classmates calls her out for continuing to hate DC unreasonably after several months.  Jackie rolls her eyes about Laura Beth worrying about a guy when one of her best friends might have to leave the country.  SECRETS AND LIES is still soapy fun, but it has a bit of perspective.

I liked Whitney's machinations in the first Capital Girls book, but she's wearing out her welcome.  She's a lame, ineffectual villain.  (Also, calling them the Crapital Girls isn't that clever.  Please stop.)  Luckily the extremely creepy stalker and aspiring kidnapper is on the scene to pick up the slack.  I think I know who it is, but whoever it is does add a bit of a chill factor, mostly due to one scene near the end of SECRETS AND LIES.

There's also some new romantic developments, of course.  There might be a love triangle on the horizon, unfortunately, but hopefully it will get cut off at the knees.  The girl involved, Jackie, isn't particularly pleased when the guys show signs of fighting over her.  She leaves both of them alone in a maneuver that I applaud.

I continue to be entertained by the Capital Girls.  SECRETS AND LIES had some interesting new twists, so I'll probably be back for the third book in the series.  I recommend these books to anyone looking for a slightly more clever, slightly more political Gossip Girl.

Review: Capital Girls

Book One of the Capital Girls series
By Ella Monroe
Available now from St. Martin's Griffin
Review copy

Ella Monroe is the pseudonym of Marilyn Rauber and Amy Reingold, a reporter and a writer making their YA debut.  They've drawn on their own history living in Washington, D.C. to write a series in the vein of Gossip Girl and the A-list with a political twist.  You know this kind of novel - lots of narrators, lots of brand names, lots of juicy scandals, and lots of plot twists.  It's pure popcorn.

I went back and forth on whether I like the characters or not.  There's lots of backstabbing and frenemy action, which doesn't make them the easiest characters to like.  While there are several Capital Girls, the main narrator of CAPITAL GIRLS is Jackie Whitman.  Jackie just lost her best friend in a tragic car wreck and has been fighting with her boyfriend Andrew Pierce - the President's son.  Meanwhile, her mother is forcing her to cozy up to a gossip columnist's daughter and she's being seduced by an older lawyer.  I felt like Jackie had her heart in the right place, but she's very tempted by the easy way out.

Less present in the novel were Lettie Velasquez, a Paraguayan girl in the US on an embassy sponsorship, and Laura Beth Ballou, the only Republican in the core group.  I liked Lettie, who is trying her best to get ahead and go to a good school so that she can go back and help her country.  Laura Beth seemed a little too naive and easily misled for someone raised in a political atmosphere.  Not mentioned at all on the back is Whitney Remick, a California transplant who just wants to go back home.  She's the most obviously villainous of the group, but it's a touch hard to delight in her machinations when she just wants her mother's love.

Many plots are introduced in CAPITAL GIRLS, although only a couple are resolved within its pages.  The most compelling is the death of Taylor Cane, the one all the Capital Girls considered their best friend.  Andrew was in the car with her, but he's remained completely silent about that night.  Throughout the book Taylor remains a forceful presence in her surviving friends' lives, and each of them muse on the mysterious crash at times.

If you like Gossip Girl, the A-list, The Elite, Insider Girl, The Clique - any of that kind of series - you'll probably like CAPITAL GIRLS too.  If you don't, then you'll probably want to avoid this one. (Quick note for parental types: there is underage drinking, drugging, and sexing.  Obvs.)  There's discussion of immigration debate and a female president to class up the joint, but it's still a book that exists more to be juicy than good literature.  I'm not sure if it qualifies as juicy yet, but I'm willing to read SECRETS AND LIES, coming November 13th, to see what happens next.