Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters: A Close-Up Review

"Kelsey Finkelstein is fourteen and FRUSTRATED. Every time she tries to live up to her awesome potential, her plans are foiled – by her impossible parents, her annoying little sister, and life in general. But with her first day of high school coming up, Kelsey is positive that things are going to change. Enlisting the help of her three best friends — sweet and quiet Em, theatrical Cass, and wild JoJo — Kelsey gets ready to rebrand herself and make the kind of mark she knows is her destiny.

Things start out great - her arch-nemesis has moved across the country, giving Kelsey the perfect opportunity to stand out on the soccer team and finally catch the eye of her long-time crush. But soon enough, an evil junior’s thirst for revenge, a mysterious photographer, and a series of other catastrophes make it clear that just because KELSEY has a plan for greatness… it doesn’t mean the rest of the world is in on it.

Kelsey’s hilarious commentary throughout her disastrous freshman year will have you laughing out loud—while being thankful that you’re not in her shoes, of course…" (from Goodreads)

Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin

Characters:

Kelsey was a very enjoyable narrator. At first I was a bit worried she was going to be too perky and optimistic for my taste, but once she started landing in some less-than-enviable situations, her self-deprecating sense of humour rose to the occasion. She's kind of sarcastic, but not bitter, and her voice comes across as quite relatable. Kelsey's written to be an easy protagonist for the reader to sympathize with — you have to feel for her! I really admired the way she was able to let things roll off her shoulders without dwelling on them. While I wouldn't say there's a ton of character development happening, she is somewhat self-absorbed at the beginning of the book, and that improves. She's also annoyingly obsessed with crushing on this one guy. I dislike the hopelessly-infatuated-crush trope, by and large, but thankfully that dies partway through.

We don't get to know the other characters as well as we do Kelsey; in particular, I would have liked to have seen more depth to Cassidy and Em. And although Kelsey's mom feels quite present as a character — oh, the pain of being a teenager and getting embarrassed by your mother — we don't really get to find out what her dad's like at all. I love what we see of Ben, though! He's adorable, and the tension and banter between him and Kelsey was very cute. 

I also appreciated the author combating a couple of stereotypes. It seems like all too often in YA books the protagonist befriends the bully and then they bond. Yeah, it doesn't always happen like that in real life. Some "mean girls" never change, even if you are nice to them, as Kelsey finds out. Second, Lexi manages to be a beautiful, popular girl who is also genuinely nice. You don't see too many of those! Usually they are walking around, ruling the halls as the snotty Queen Bee cheerleader-types.


Plot/pacing:  

There isn't really one overarching storyline driving the book from beginning to end. Rather, it's more like a collage of all the events that happen to Kelsey in freshman year. It's episodic more than anything else, which means that some parts feel kind of separate and disjointed from other storylines. That said, the humorous plot of Kelsey's repeated photos in the school newspaper does thread throughout the novel, and in fact is responsible for sparking the romance. I found this storyline, full of seeming coincidences, to be quite amusing (although I wanted to actually see a bit more of the teasing Kelsey claims she endures about the photos...we're told this more than we're really shown it).

There's nothing startlingly new about the plot; Kelsey faces some pretty typical challenges that other teens face. There's the girl who has it in for her from day one, the friend who kind-of-backstabs her, the other friend she thinks might be lesbian, and all the guys who walk in and out of Kelsey's life. Not to mention playing on the soccer team and acting in the school musical, of course.

Speaking of which: really, you should read this book for the hilarity of the calamitous "Fiddler on the Roof" musical scene alone. I was positively chortling with laughter as I read that part! If you enjoy slapstick humour, you'll love it. (I have a few different brands of humour, and I admit that slapstick is one of them. Don't judge.) I wish there had been more uproariously funny scenes like this one! I think her being a hapless goalie on the soccer team could have been played up more and resulted in similar hilarity.

So, yeah, it's quite predictable, but that doesn't really matter so much. The embarrassing situations Kelsey finds herself in are enjoyable in an oh-so-glad-that's-not-me kind of way, and her attitude makes it easy to read about her experiences, because she's not overly whiny. 

I did feel like the book ended kind of abruptly — I wanted more pages at the end! Perhaps an epilogue would have helped give us a sense of what all the characters would be doing in the near future. Plus, I wanted a little bit more from the romance at the end. (Spoiler, highlight to read: she kisses Keith and Sam, but we don't see a kiss with Ben? What's up with that? I totally wanted a romantic declaration, and then a kiss to seal the deal!). I'm not sure if there's a sequel planned, although I think there could be since Kelsey still has room to grow and mature. 

Writing style:

There were a few errors (formatting, punctuation, etc.) sprinkled throughout, but nothing to detract from the reading experience. Kelsey's voice felt really spot-on for her age, as did the maturity level in terms of content and language. There's a bit of swearing, but not a lot, and some sexual references, but nothing explicit. In essence, it manages to stay away from gratuitous "gritty" content without resulting in a dumbed-down or sanitized feel.

Final verdict: 4 shooting stars. This one was a pleasant surprise for me! Well-written, funny in parts, true to life, and surprisingly readable. It probably won't stick with you for very long, but you'll enjoy reading it in the moment. (Plus, it contains the grossest kissing scene I've read in quite a while.)
 

Note: there is a bit of mature content, language, and references in this book. It might not be suitable for some of the youngest YA readers, but I think it's a good fit for junior high-level.

Disclaimer: I received an e-book for review from the author's PR (not sure if it was an ARC or a finished copy).

This book counts towards my goals for the Just Contemporary reading challenge and the Debut Author reading challenge.

Forget-Me-Nots: Tall, Thin, and Blonde

 

Forget-Me-Nots is a feature on my blog for highlighting books I enjoyed in childhood and the teenage years that I don't see getting much attention nowadays.

Tall, Thin, and Blonde by Dyan Sheldon

Our copy actually had this cover (sorry for the terrible image quality, I couldn't find a good one):

Amazon's description:

"Best friends Jenny and Amy have no time for Miss Perfect Teenagers, the tall, thin blondes whose only talk is of boys and fashion. Suddenly Amy's changed: she's into salads and diet Cokes; she's got a new hairstyle, wardrobe and set of friends. Jenny, meanwhile, finds herself part of a group of oddballs nicknamed the Martians. Will she follow Amy or find her own way?"

Okay, so it's not a ground-breaking premise, but the main character Jenny is very relatable — insecure about her body, unsure about what kind of 'image' she wants to be projecting in high school, and upset that her friend Amy seems to have "dropped" her. The characters are fun (especially the quirky "Martians"), the storyline familiar (sometimes cringe-worthily, as there are some embarrassing but hilarious scenes) and the overall message positive. I think it's definitely one for the younger YA set, but I do remember re-reading this book several times when I was younger — Jenny has such a fabulous sense of humour that you'll be rooting for her in no time!

Anyone remember this one?

Before I Fall: Review

It starts with a death. It's Friday, Sam is sitting shotgun in her friend Lindsay's car as they drive home from a party, when suddenly - it's over. There's a crash, and then she's falling through darkness. So when she wakes up the next morning, she's a little confused about what happened...and it gets a good deal more confusing when Sam realizes that she's woken up to Friday. Again. And then again. And then again. Sam can change the choices she makes during the day, but will she be able to alter the ultimate outcome? Or is she destined to die that day?

Before I Fall is like the movie Groundhog Day (which, by the way, I really enjoy!), but set in high school. It's a good thing Lauren Oliver references the movie, because there are certainly a few similarities - for instance, the various stages each main character goes through as they realize things about their situation, and "the other car will swerve first" idea. I'd never seen this premise used before in a book, however, and Oliver does a good job of making it her own.


Characters:

I didn't like Sam at the beginning. I'm quite sure that was intentional on Oliver's part. Frankly, Sam starts out as rather self-centered and shallow with a frustrating lack of self-awareness. Not to mention, she has a tendency to unthinkingly follow along with what everyone else is doing (particularly her friends, and particularly the ringleader Lindsay). Sam does understand that she's popular - and she's willing to do almost anything to keep it that way. However, we are given a glimmer of hope for Sam's character development; there are mentions of a time when Sam wasn't so concerned with what everyone else thought of her, and she does have some good qualities - loyalty to her friends (though they may not deserve it) and love for her family, especially her younger sister. In this way, Oliver shows us that Sam is really just playing a part, but she's managed to act it so well she's fooled even herself.

Seeing Sam mature gradually throughout the book, and learn what she valued and how her actions affected others, was really enjoyable. She's not the most interesting character in the book - she's fairly ordinary, all things considered - but she makes a good narrator. We may not always like what Sam does or sympathize with her, but we are all familiar with the themes of friendship, popularity, and growing up that are important at this point in her life. Sometimes I wanted to groan when I realized Sam still hadn't got it (she's a bit slow on the uptake on occasion), but we do see progress, and that's the main thing. At the start, I would not have wanted a friend like Sam, but by the end, she'd become a person I think I would have enjoyed spending time with.

Lindsay was the only one of Sam's friends I really felt was a distinct character. She's the head of their little group, she's the cruelest of all of them, and she gets a thrill out of bullying others. So many times I kept wondering why Sam chose to be friends with Lindsay. After all, Lindsay used to make fun of Sam when they were younger. Originally it seems like it was just because Lindsay was popular, Sam wasn't, and when Lindsay invited her into the clique, Sam went. But over the years it's clear that a bond has formed between them (and Ally and Elody, the other members of their group), and their friendship has staying power. (Why she still wants to be friends with them I'm really not sure. They don't seem to go through the same revelations and attitude changes that Sam does.) Also, Lindsay has some secrets from her past, and they're connected with Juliet Sykes, the girl Lindsay seems to hate the most. Learning more about how Lindsay got the way she is, and why she is so hurtful to Juliet, helped me to better understand her character - though I don't have to like it!

Which brings me to Juliet Sykes, who in some ways was my favorite character (well, that's not true, I think my favorite was Kent. But that's for later.) She was the ultimate victim. For years and years she endured teasing and hurtful jokes from everyone; she basically had no friends. I really felt sorry for her - high school can be a pretty awful place if you're in a position like that. Add to that problems at home (her dad is rumored to be an alcoholic) and the reader can understand exactly why Juliet's lost all hope. The storyline surrounding Juliet is definitely where Oliver shows us the darker side of life.

Now, on to Kent. He's the main romantic interest in the book (don't try to tell me that Rob is, because he's not remotely romantic), but more than that - he's Sam's childhood friend. One she cast aside when Lindsay picked her, and she became 'too cool' for the likes of Kent. All of this time, though, he's still been trying to connect with her again, though she's made it perfectly clear he's not good enough for her. One of the sweetest parts of this book was seeing Sam realize what she's been overlooking this whole time by writing Kent off. And one of the saddest parts is that each day when she wakes up, she knows he won't remember anything from the day before, and she has to start all over again. I loved Kent, he was so adorable and so willing to forgive and forget!

I do wish that Ally and Elody had been given more personality. I think Oliver tries to do this by giving us some random facts about them, but I still didn't get a good sense of who they were. To me they always just kind of remained the mindless sheep of the group (maybe that's who they're supposed to be?) Also, I wish we could have seen more of Anna; Sam connects with her at one point, but I didn't really understand what makes Anna tick (and why she was doing some of the things she was). There are also a few characters (Tara and crew) that are introduced briefly for a day, but then not mentioned again. None of these girls had really distinct personalities and they all sort of blended in my mind.

Plot:

Oliver's twist on the Groundhog Day premise - Sam's death at the beginning - really added to the novel, and made it a little less predictable. I was always wondering: was she really dead this whole time, and would nothing she did make a difference? Or was there a chance she could prevent her death and wake up on Saturday?

Still, since I knew the basic premise, I wasn't surprised by too many developments in the plot. There was at least one I-didn't-see-that-coming moment, but on the whole I would have liked a few more surprises. The book is more focused on characters - their interactions, their histories, their growth - than action, which was probably necessary given that Sam was so unlikeable to begin with.

I did have a little difficulty keeping all of Sam's Fridays straight in my mind. It wasn't so much that I found it too repetitive, because I liked seeing how the choices she made affected how the day went. It was more that I kept getting confused by what happened on which day, and I wouldn't always remember the details Sam would sometimes mention from a previous day.

I can't say too much about the ending without spoiling, but I was a little disappointed. It definitely makes sense and ties everything together - it just wasn't the ending I was hoping for. The solution almost seems a bit too simple, although I can understand why Oliver chose it. Also, the final moments of the story are a bit unclear (they're probably supposed to be, but I usually like to know exactly what's going on). I did appreciate how the epilogue mirrors the prologue, that was a nice touch.

Writing style:

This book was a pretty easy read, and although I often can't get into books written in present voice, it really worked for this one. The author did seem to have a penchant for shorter sentences, which when used too frequently sometimes became a bit irritating (but didn't detract much from my enjoyment). I had to flip back a few times in an effort to mentally straighten out the sequence of events of previous days, although as the book went on I kind of gave up on figuring out exactly what happened when and just went along with it. This problem is tied up with the nature of the premise, and I'm not sure what might have made it easier to keep track, but a bit more clarity in how each day progressed would have been appreciated.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 shooting stars. For readers who enjoy stories set in high school, characters who gradually learn from their mistakes, and seeing how even small choices can affect the events of a single day.

Forget You: Review

Zoey's a control freak who's losing her grip on the events of her life. Her dad's gotten his girlfriend pregnant, her mother's mentally ill and attempts suicide, and Zoey impulsively decides to sleep with her close friend Brandon. A week later, things spin thoroughly out of her control, when she finds herself in the aftermath of a car accident with the events of the preceding hours wiped completely from her memory. The only one who seems to know anything about it is Doug, the guy she's had a silent war with for years - and the guy who pulls her out of the wreckage. Did she crash the party like she intended that night? Did she sleep with Brandon for a second time? And just why is Doug acting so different towards her now?

Just about every review I read of Forget You beforehand was extremely positive, so I was expecting quite a lot coming into it. It didn't exactly deliver for me, mainly because I couldn't identify that much with the main character.

I understood Zoey's need for control easily, so I got that part of her just fine. However, her lack of self-awareness - and at some times total denial of the situation - really started to grate on my nerves. All right, so she slept with Brandon and they had always been close friends. But she knew he was a player who was never satisfied with one girl and always moved on to somebody else. Yet she kept insisting that he was her boyfriend and blowing off Doug (who was clearly the much more deserving guy, even if he did have a chip on his shoulder about certain things) because of it. Brandon didn't call her, we barely ever saw him talking to her, he was constantly hanging out with this other girl - and yet Zoey just wouldn't give up this ridiculous illusion that they were dating.

Also, it irritated me that Zoey took so long before asking Doug to explain the large gaps in her memory. He clearly knew something she didn't right from the beginning, but for some reason she just kept pretending that her memory was totally and utterly fine. Maybe she was just too proud to admit that to him, or too embarrassed? Zoey later claims it's because she's worried she'll have psychological problems like her mom does...but a concussion and bipolar disorder are completely different things. Amnesia surrounding a particular event can be quite common if you hit your head! I suppose as a means of furthering the plot, it was a necessary evil (otherwise Doug could have explained everything at the very beginning and the book would have been much shorter), but I wish the reader had been provided with a better reason for it.

Furthermore, she blows up at Doug for lying to her about that night - and I agree, he certainly could have been a bit more forthcoming, especially when he finally figures out she has no memory of the events. But still, it's like the pot calling the kettle black when she's been faking a perfectly good memory (not to mention a relationship with Brandon, not just to her acquaintances but to herself) this whole time. And finally, towards the end of the novel, she spontaneously announces that her feelings towards certain characters have changed. Frankly this comes as a bit of a surprise to the reader, as Zoey has so far been shown to be amazingly out of touch with her emotions, and we have not really seen this change of heart develop (and certainly not seen her realization of it).

Apart from wanting to shake the protagonist several times, I actually quite enjoyed the storyline. The pacing was excellent, the mother's mental illness was well handled, and I particularly appreciated that (mild spoiler alert) Zoey's memory of that night never returns. Indeed, I was a bit worried that her memory of that night would come back to her in bits and pieces, but happily it did not follow that cliche. Hey, that's real life, after all - sometimes those memories are gone forever. Also, the scary idea of having such a memory loss made it just a little bit easier to sympathize with what Zoey was going through as she gradually discovers what she can't remember.

And, despite my issues with the protagonist, Echols does a great job with characterization. Virtually all her characters are flawed in some way, with issues that need to be worked out - Zoey I think I've already covered, Doug has a lot of trouble with his father as well as a mixed-bag of emotions regarding Zoey, Zoey's mother is battling bipolar disorder, Zoey's father is an extremely controlling bully of a man, and her friends Keke and Lila are too concerned with appearances and too little concerned with what's actually going on with Zoey. Some of these characters do mature and grow throughout the novel, namely Zoey (at least somewhat), Doug, and Zoey's mother, but others remain stagnant. This is also realistic, and I think I would have been disappointed if, for instance, Zoey's dad had repented of his nasty treatment of Zoey and completely turned around.

It's difficult for me to give an overall rating of this one, but I think I'll go with 3.5 out of 5 shooting stars.