Review: Girl Underwater

By Claire Kells
Available now from Dutton (Penguin Random House)
Review copy

GIRL UNDERWATER has some unfortunate timing.  Books come out on a long-set schedule, and no one can control current events.  But GIRL UNDERWATER starts with a plane crash, which probably isn't what most people want to read right now. 

(I will admit that this fictional crash mostly bothered me because the dangling oxygen masks are repeatedly mentioned, but no one puts one on.  The oxygen masks drop when cabin pressure drops, and you should put yours on immediately and then assist nearby children and other people who can't get their own on.  The bag may not inflate, but oxygen is still flowing.  Hasn't Claire Kells listened to the safety demonstration?)

Avery Delacorte is a college freshman, a swimmer, and one of five survivors of a plane crash into a lake.  Her teammate Colin survived, as did three little boys.  GIRL UNDERWATER alternates between the past, with the five working to survive their wounds and their lack of food sources in the increasingly hostile winter, and the present, where Avery struggles to readjust to normal life.  She's clearly traumatized by her experience, and she's internalizing everything.  She won't even talk to Colin or the boys, the only people who know what she's been through.

I found Avery fascinating.  I didn't always understand her decisions, but I did understand why she was making them.  She's horrified by what she did and didn't do to survive and she's terrified of the media scrutiny.  She wants to be forgotten, not remembered as a hero.  She feels a lot of shame.  The past narrative contradicts a lot of her feelings of inadequacy, showing that her cool head, first aid skills, and other talents were vital in their survival.  She's blaming herself for no good reason, but at the same time it is a believable reaction to the awful things she went through.

GIRL UNDERWATER weaves together a survival story, a recovery story, and a romance in a compelling mix.  This is Kells' first novel, but it feels quite polished.  I couldn't wait to find out how Colin and Avery saved themselves and the kids, nor how Avery would manage to get her feet under her again.  She found reserves of strength in the wilderness, but that doesn't mean she automatically knows what to do with them.

GIRL UNDERWATER will appeal to fans of HATCHET and other classic survival stories.  I liked that GIRL UNDERWATER also encompassed what happened to the survivors after they went home.  It's a sharply realized little book.

Movie Monday Giveaway: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Blu-ray Combo Pack

Last week,  I got to give away a digital download of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.  This week, I get to give away a Blu-ray combo pack.  This combo pack includes Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copies of the movie in addition to the following bonus features:

• New Zealand: Home of Middle-earth Part 3 
• Recruiting the Five Armies 
• Completing Middle-earth: A Six-Part Saga 
• Completing Middle-earth: A Seventeen-Year Journey 
• The Last Goodbye: Behind the Scenes Music Video 
• Trailers

So watch the behind-the-scenes videos below, play with the app, and then enter to win!







a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Things I'll Never Say: Stories About Our Secret Selves

Edited by Ann Angel
Stories by Ann Angel, Kerry Cohen, Louise Hawes, Varian Johnson, erica l. kaufman, Ron Koertge, E. M. Kokie, Chris Lynch, Kekla Magoon, Zoë Marriott, Katy Moran, J. L. Powers, Mary Ann Rodman, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Ellen Wittlinger
Available now from Candlewick
Review copy

Ann Angel's first outing editing an anthology is an impressive venture.  She's gathered a wonderful mix of authors, from established award winners like Chris Lynch and Ellen Wittlinger to talented up to a debut author.  The authors aren't just diverse in their name recognition either.  THINGS I'LL NEVER SAY: STORIES ABOUT OUR SECRET SELVES dwells in those experiences that are hard to talk about, that people like to never think about.

It's fitting that it is a very diverse anthology, not only the authors, but also the main characters, who are black and white and Asian and gay and bisexual and transgender and suffering from mental illness.  Although not all of the stories are realistic, they do strive for a realism about the teen experience, and the multiplicity of points of view represented help support that anthology-wide tone.

I'll admit that the anthology started a little slow for me.  The usually reliable Ellen Wittlinger didn't knock it out of the park with "The We-Are-Like-Everybody-Else Game," the story of a girl with a mom who hoards and a friend who might not deserve the title (but one who does).  "Cupid's Beaux" by Cynthia Leitich Smith is charming, and a definite delight to me as a fan of her Tantalize series.  Will anthology readers who haven't read that series be a little lost?

"When We Were Wild" by Louise Hawes and "Call Me!" by Ron Koertge are both delightfully loose stories, slightly naughty and shaggy with narrators who struggle with their knowledge of their own cruelty.  Of the sadder stories, I think I liked "Easter" by Mary Ann Rodman best, for the way it captured loss and teenage confusion and dashed hopes.

"Quick Change" by E.M. Kokie is a little gem about a con artist in a family of con artists, and I want an entire novel about what happens next.  (Short stories have been made into novels before!  I can hope!)  "Storm Clouds Fleeing From the Wind" by Zoë Marriott is the standout of the collection.  It's an achingly lovely story set in a kingdom that isn't, about a dancer who cannot be matched, especially when furious.  Her bio in the back of THINGS I'LL NEVER SAY says that it is related to her novel SHADOWS ON THE MOON, which is now a must-read for me.

Honestly, I could tell you good things about almost all of the stories in the collection.  There were a handful that I didn't care for, but there were also two excellent stories and more than half of the stories were good-to-great.  I think that's a good ratio for an anthology.  With THINGS I'LL NEVER SAY, Ann Angel shows great promise as an anthologist as well as an author.

Review: Honey Girl

By Lisa Freeman
Available now from Sky Pony Press (Skyhorse)
Review copy

For a book from a small publisher, HONEY GIRL has been getting some strong word of mouth.  It came up in two totally unrelated forums that I frequent and I just knew that I had to read it.  Lesbian surfer girl?  Sign me up!  Of course, the problem with word of mouth is that the message can get a little garbled on the way.

I was sad when I started HONEY GIRL to discover that Nani Nuuhiwa doesn't surf.  She knows how to, but she doesn't, because she wants to be cool.  (And the consequences for being a girl that surfs can be way worse than a little social ostracism.)  I would've thought that the 1970s were more open to girl surfers; after all, Gidget was almost twenty years earlier!  But I do know progress can be slow.  Plus, the setting is so wonderfully done.

Lisa Freeman nails the setting.  HONEY GIRL takes place in a different time and place, one that doesn't exist any more.  It takes place on State Beach, whose denizens must follow any number of unspoken rules in order to be accepted.  Nani, moving to California from Hawaii, takes all the knowledge she learned from the coolest girl at her beach and puts it toward getting in with the locals at State.  It's historical Mean Girls.  Nani can be frustrating, with her dedication to a bunch of rules made mostly to keep girls in line, but it is such a true process.  Sometimes you have to color within the lines to gain social capital.

Nani is afraid of coloring outside the lines, not the least because she likes girls (as well as boys).  She's cool with who she is, but she knows what will happen to her if she comes out.  And maybe it's a moot point, since she falls pretty hard for one of the surfers.  (Even if she falls pretty hard for one of the girls on the beach too.)  She's got enough trouble from being mixed race, especially since her mother wants her to just be white since her father's death.

Nani, in other words, is dealing with a lot.  Her summer is something to behold, as she both comes closer to her original goal and to realizing who she really wants to be.  HONEY GIRL is a coming of age story with an immersive sense of place and a heroine caught between her strong sense of self and the knowledge that who she is inside will never quite fit in.

Review: Smek for President!

Sequel to The True Meaning of Smekday (my review)
 By Adam Rex
Available now from Disney-Hyperion
Review copy

SMEK FOR PRESIDENT! is a belated sequel to the much-beloved THE TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY.  I don't mind Adam Rex waiting until he had a good idea to write a sequel, although I suspect SMEK FOR PRESIDENT! was partially prompted by the imminent release of Home, Dreamworks' animated adaptation of THE TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY.  The movie is mentioned within the book itself as a fictionalized version of Tip's adventures, much like what was done in Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries novels after the release of the movie starring Anne Hathaway.



SMEK FOR PRESIDENT! isn't quite as sharp on the social commentary as the original, although it is the perfect time for an election parody as the US presidential election starts to kick into gear.  The story starts when Tip and J.Lo (a little human girl and her alien friend) head out to New Boovworld for a holiday - without letting Tip's mom know.  What follows is an adventure with the cutest billboard ever (I wish all advertising were so friendly and helpful), time travel, and some rather inept presidential candidates.  One of those candidates is Dan Landry, the man who took credit for Tip's accomplishments.

I loved spending time with Tip, J.Lo, and the rest of the returning cast again.  Rex knows how to write a hilarious adventure that incorporates real-world issues at a perfect level for the rather young audience.  I particularly liked Tip's struggle with the fact that know one knows she saved the Earth.  Yeah, she would've saved it anyway, but who doesn't want a little credit?

If you enjoyed THE TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY, don't miss SMEK FOR PRESIDENT!  And definitely don't forget to read the book before going to see the movie.