The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

I really enjoyed Jay Asher's debut novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, when I read it (although in retrospect the concerns I had have increased) and so I was definitely was interested in picking up his second book when it was finally released. It turned out to be a co-written novel with another well-loved author but one I've never read anything by in the past, Carolyn Mackler.  

The Future of Us takes place in 1996, when neighbours and former best friends Josh and Emma discover Facebook on the computer. The only thing is... Facebook hasn't been invented yet. And the profile pages they're logged onto are their own, fifteen years in the future. As Josh and Emma see their actions ripple across their future, reflected in their profile pages, they're forced to come to terms with their present, and their relationship.

This was a really charming story with a unique spin on time travel that was never really explained. The scientist in me really wanted to know why Emma and Josh had access to this page. Despite not knowing the why or the how of the events, the repercussions of having access to a future self's profile page were actually quite interesting and examined well. I appreciated that not every change in the present had a direct correlation to a future self, sometimes things– like the future children they'd have– were just altered by moments too tiny to quantify.

What made The Future of Us so charming to me was its nostalgia. I was only a kid in 1996, but I still have some memories from that era. I remember using dial-up internet, and when cell phones were something special and people still made mix-tapes. So it was a lot of fun reading about a time when that was the norm. I'm uncertain if it would have the same charm to a younger reader though, somebody without any memories of that time. In that way, it's more like historical fiction, but just a little weird because it's not that historical, and even calling it that makes me feel old!

The only thing The Future of Us really lacked was the kind of suspense and tension that characterized Thirteen Reasons Why, and I was therefore pretty surprised to realize that the story just didn't have the intensity I hoped for. With really exciting stories I'll pick up an audiobook and end up finishing with a hard copy when I find they are taking too long, but I didn't have that problem with this one and managed to listen to the whole thing. I think because the only way the reader really saw the repercussions of the characters' actions were through their profile page, they didn't have the same immediacy to them they usually would. I also thought that some of the secondary characters, like Josh's brother and Josh and Emma's mutual friends, were a little flat.

I enjoyed both the male and female perspectives, or Asher and Mackler's writing, in The Future of Us. I felt like both characters were authentic and dimensional, and I liked how Emma was the one afraid of commitment and Josh was the romantic instead of the stereotypical reverse. The audiobook narrators were also really good. Ultimately, The Future of Us was a fun and endearing book, filled with nostalgia and cute moments that charmed me but just lacking enough excitement and depth to make it really memorable.

Release Date: November 21st 2011  Pages: 356  Format: Audiobook / Hardcover
Source: Borrowed / Publisher  Publisher: Penguin Canada
Also By This Author: Thirteen Reasons Why (Asher) Buy It: Book Depository

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Release Date: May 8th 2012
Pages: 305
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Buy It: Book Depository

Enchanted was a very, well, enchanting story. Unlike a lot of fairytale retellings being published these days, like Beastly by Alex Finn, this isn't set in contemporary times and it isn't, strictly speaking, a retelling at all. In fact, it's more like Finn's Cloaked in the sense that Kontis combines half a dozen traditional fairytales into a unique story.

Enchanted is the story of seven sisters, each named for a day of the week and each 'blessed' with their own gifts. Sunday is the seventh sister, born to a seventh sister, and that makes her especially blessed. Sunday loves telling stories, the problem is whenever she writes them down they tend to come true, and not in the way that she intended. When Sunday befriends a frog in the woods, she feels like she's finally fallen in love– but after giving him a kiss she leaves before she sees his transformation, back into the prince, a man that her family abhors.

Back at his castle, the prince wants to make Sunday fall in love with him again, but he keeps his frog-identity a secret. However, his quest won't be easy, and there are curses and fairies to consider as well.

I really liked the traditional style of writing for Enchanted and the interesting way that Kontis combined the fairytales. The problem, for me, was that many of the fairytales she pulled from have pretty weak female characters and she didn't do a lot to remedy that. At times Sunday came across as not nearly as interesting as her sisters like the feisty pirate queen Thursday and the hardworking Saturday– and I'd love to read a novel from either of their perspectives, because of they weren't so predictably princess. It felt like Kontis tried to remedy this at the end it a haphazard way involving Sunday going barefoot, which really felt like much more of an afterthought because as far as I recall, she'd never gone barefoot earlier in the story, so I didn't get why she was starting now.

In the end, this is a story about balls and beauty and transformation, but I wanted Sunday to have a little more fight in her. Also, I know this is a fairytale, but I really felt like love came too easy in Enchanted. That said, it was clear Sunday cared deeply for her family and in spite of all the difficulties she faced she managed to remain positive, which was a pretty big accomplishment.

Enchanted is a busy story, but Kontis manages to keep it moving along quickly without getting muddled. The world she creates has a lot of interesting backstory, usually pulling from various fairytales, and is filled with a massive cast of characters. Despite having at least a dozen significant characters, I never got confused about who was who, except maybe with some of the prince's wait staff. That's because Kontis gives each character their own unique personality and quirks, so that even though there are so many characters, they don't blur together. 

The traditional aspect of Enchanted was what I both loved and disliked about it, I wanted something a little less quintessentially princess, a more realistic love and a stronger Sunday, but I loved the cleverness and the large cast of interesting characters. Ultimately, Kontis has written a complex and exciting story that manages to take fairytales that the reader is probably familiar with, and combine them in a way you'd never expect.

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

Release Date: March 13th 2012
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Random House
Also by this Author: Like Mandarin
Buy It: Book Depository

In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, 18-year-old Bria signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path.

When I said, after finishing Kirsten Hubbard's incredible debut novel Like Mandarin, that I wasn't quite to wait long to pick up her second novel, I wasn't kidding. Two weeks later I was diving into Wanderlove, with only the slightest touch of apprehension, because the storyline itself was not quite as appealing to me. While I didn't have quite the same heart-rush for Wanderlove as I did for Like Mandarin, the novel was still a great read: filled with adventure, growth, and heart.

The unusual settings– Guatemala and Belize– are brought to life by Hubbard's skilled description, and it's not surprising that she's worked as a travel writer for years. Travel love, wanderlove, the pages of this book exude it and it's probably impossible to finish the novel without having an instant desire to book plane tickets to Central America. In a way, Wanderlove makes the reader feel like they've had a firsthand look into what it would be like, that maybe, in a tiny way, a part of them has visited.

As incredible as Hubbard's setting and description were once again, there were a couple aspects that didn't quite live up to her debut novel for me. In particular, the dialogue didn't feel as natural, and in a few instances even came off as insincere. I felt like I had really gotten to know the characters, and it was hard to imagine them speaking that way. My second complaint might not be shared by those with a softer hear than me, but the ending, especially the last few pages, were just way too cheesy for me. Bria's journey hadn't been easy or straightforward, and to end things in such a corny way, felt false for me. But maybe I'm just cold-hearted. Finally, the whole no strings attached hookup storyline seemed a bit juvenile and pointless within the whole novel, the sort of tacked on component I'm not sure I would have missed.

What I definitely would have missed if they weren't a unique part of Wanderlove are the drawings, Bria's drawings, done by Hubbard herself, that are included throughout. As beautiful as they are, at first I was worried they'd be distracting from the story, but there are just enough to add, without taking away and jarring me out of the story. One or two, though well-drawn of course, might have been unnecessary, but I was willing to accept them because of the other 90% that were a complete benefit to the novel.

Bria also has a rich and authentic character development, and even though the novel takes place over 20 days, it really feels like she's changed by the end. Considering how life-altering travel can be, it really does fit, and the way that Hubbard's shows her past, through flashbacks, and her current experiences, made for a satisfying and believable change in Bria.

Overall, Wanderlove wasn't another Like Mandarin: it had its own unique cast of characters, incredible setting, and engaging story line, and while it didn't have quite the magic of my first Hubbard experience it is still a completely worthwhile and wonderful reading experience. I eagerly await Hubbard's next novel, and there better be some kind of announcement about it soon; I don't want to wait too long.

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Release Date: September 29th 2011
Pages: 338
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Penguin
Also by this Author: Anna and the French Kiss
Buy It: Book Depository

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion... she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

Unlike Anna and the French Kiss, which I technically lied about devouring since in between putting down the audio book and picking up a hard copy there were several months where it lay dejected on my, albeit crowded, bookshelf, I really did devour Perkins second novel, Lola and the Boy Next Door in less than twenty four hours.

So in reality, I didn't love Lola quite as much as Anna, and that had a lot to do with the main character herself. The love interest this time around, Cricket, was incredibly charming– even if I don't quite get the fascination with guys wearing tight pants, and he had believable chemistry with Lola. But unfortunately, Lola herself tended to be kinda flaky, other times arrogant, and sometimes even flat out dishonest, in a way I didn't find entirely attractive. I had a hard time relating to her fashion obsession, and I really disliked how she lead Cricket on, while continuing to stay with her boyfriend, who was definitely a jerk, but didn't deserve how she treated him.

Asides from Lola getting on my nerves occasionally, I really did love this novel. There's a huge presence of Anna and St. Clair, and that was charming and wonderful to read about. Lola's family played a huge role in her life, which is always refreshing in YA, and Perkins did a great job with making the dynamic authentic and entertaining. There's a brand new cast of entertaining and unique characters brought to life in Lola and the Boy Next Door. And of course, there's Perkins' ever present, adorable sense of humour.

Lola wasn't a second Anna, but a wonderful story in its own right, and even if I didn't always like the protagonist, I definitely still consider myself a Stephanie Perkins fan for life. After reading her two first novels, it's hard for me to imagine Perkins ever writing anything that I would not read– grocery lists and instructions for using dental floss included. 

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Release Date: December 2nd 2010
Pages: 372
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Penguin
Buy It: Book Depository

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. 

I have a confession to make.

Sometimes, I let the hype deter me. Sometimes, the fact that everyone is raving about a book is actually an incentive for me to not pick it up. Because I'm sick of hearing about it, so the last thing I want to do is start reading it. But in those instances when I do finally dust off the dust jacket and pick up a copy, I want nothing more for all the hype to be completely, and utterly right.

When it comes to Stephanie Perkins, the hype is right.

I'm pretty sure I devoured her debut novel, Anna and the French Kiss, within moments of picking it up. Okay, actually I listened to it on audio book for awhile, put it down for a few months, and then picked up the hard copy and fell in love. But the whole thing could have happened in an instant–I was so transported to the French boarding school, the awkward but loveable Anna, and the absolutely swoon-worthy St. Clair (even if I have a hard time imaging what a French-Meets-English-Meets-American accent could possibly sound like). 

Perkins characters are incredible. They are funny and complicated and imperfect and authentic. I love that St. Clair was short and had crooked bottom teeth, and that Anna had the streak of blond in her hair. Nobody was straight-forward or one dimensional, even the characters that sometimes come across as the bad guys– and for quite a lot of the book, I felt that way about St. Clair, mainly because I have a huge issue with guys who keep other girls hanging on, while they're in a relationship. But even with St. Clair's complicated relationship status, he managed to win me over by the end.

And this book, I mean, the romantic tension was palpable. There may be the word "kiss" in its title, but you have to wait a desperately long time for any kissing. But after that wait when you didn't even know what you were missing, when it finally happens, it is even more amazing than you could have anticipated. It is totally worth it.

I think that's a pretty good summary for how I feel about Perkins.

Vaclav and Lena by Haley Tanner

Vaclav and Lena by Haley Tanner is set in New York City in the world of the Russian immigrant, it tells the story of two children and what happens when they are forced to grow up. Vaclav has fallen in love with magic, and his dream seems about to become a reality with the beautiful Lena as his assistant. Lena doesn't have family beyond a neglectful aunt and is taken in by the warmth of Vaclav's mother. Then a horrible discovery sends Lena away leaving an empty place in Vaclav's heart. Years later, as teenagers, they meet again- but will they have the opportunity to right what went wrong, or will history be destined to repeat itself again?

Vaclav and Lena is one of those books I was sent unsolicited that I honestly never would have picked up otherwise. I mean a magic show and a love story- really?- but WOW, I am so glad I read it (Thank you Random House Canada!) A synopsis doesn't do this touching and beautiful tale justice, what Tanner has written is a novel without a genre, something truly universal. Vaclav and Lena is part historical novel, part contemporary love story, part young adult literature and yet easily mature enough, even when the characters are children, for an adult audience. It takes the reader into a foreign world, almost fantastical, and yet real and located right in the middle of one of the biggest cities there is. The writing is vibrant and written with a hint of a Russian accent, helping to bring the setting to life without compromising on the details of the story. There is also a surprising bit of humour in the language and the way that Tanner phrases things, such as when she writes "Lena knows it is not right to steal unless you need something really badly, and the person is not home, and won’t even realize the thing is missing."

In fact, it is the sometimes childlike narration of Vaclav and Lena that often makes it so beautiful and perceptive. At one point Tanner writes:

"Next the princess and the boy did what everyone does when they fall in love: They sat in some crummy place, on some buckets turned over in a cold alley by the market, something like that, and they didn’t care that they were hungry and that they were thirsty and that they were tired, and that their mothers were wondering where they were, and they told each other everything that they had ever known and everything they liked and everything they didn’t like, and all of their favorite colors and books, and what kind of rain was their favorite, sprinkles or downpours."

Vaclav and Lena is a novel full of painful magic, sharp and sparkling, it is impossible not to fall in love with Vaclav and feel his longing and pain. Tanner shows clearly how even in normal life, even without all the glamour of paranormal beings and fantastical curses, sometimes love isn't quite enough. It is a touching and emotional book. Not just Vaclav and Lena, but each of the characters, even those, like Lena's aunt, who appear infrequently, are rich and complex. Vaclav and Lena is a book with many hats: it is a book about assimilation and belonging, it is a book about childhood dreams, it is a book about growing up and longing and loss. Mostly, Vaclav and Lena is a book about love in its many forms, and it is a powerful story Tanner tells with absolute magic.

Release Date: May 17th, 2011
Pages: 292
Source: ARC From Publisher
Buy the Book 

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen is a love story with a touch of magic, taking place in the Walls of Water, North Carolina, it centres around the stories of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson and her former highschool classmate Paxton Osgood. Both Willa and Paxton are still living the town they grew up in, and neither of them has had much luck in love. From opposite ends of society- Willa's family met with financial ruin generations ago, while Paxton's replaced them as the Southern royalty- the two woman are brought together when Paxton's family restores the Blue Ridge Madam, a home built by Willa's great-grandfather. However, as the restoration nears completion it uncovers a skeleton buried beneath the property's peach tree, and it is only the first sign of things that are about to change for Willa and Paxton, and Walls of Water will never be the same.

Last year I read a Southern romance novel, Salting Roses by Lorelle Marinello, which I didn't really enjoy and I suggested that it would have been better suited for somebody willing to suspend belief and enjoy a little magic. Although this is still true, after reading The Peach Keeper I realize that when it is done right, and Allen does it perfectly, I am definitely able to enjoy a Southern love story with a little magic. Allen reminded me that although readers may have genres they prefer, and I certainly do, when a writer is extremely talented then it doesn't matter if you don't usually read their kind of books. I completely well in love with The Peach Keeper, an easy to read and lovely to devour kind of novel.

Although first of all a love story, The Peach Keeper also deals with other universal themes like friendship and family. Also, despite being centred around romance, the relationships that Allen writes about are not completely conventional and expected, these are slightly older women who have been unlucky in love and find it when they have mostly given up, and it is was comforting and heart-warming to read about. In addition to Paxton and Willa, there is a strong and authentic secondary cast of characters that were enjoyable to read about, including the love interests.

Sarah Addison Allen is clearly a talented and lovely writer, and I was absolutely enamoured with her words in The Peach Keeper. I am excited to know that she has three previous books that have also had positive feedback and I definitely plan to pick up all of those in the future. Overall, The Peach Keeper is a perfect light and lovely read and it was a great reminder that everyone in awhile, we all love a little romance.

Release Date: March 22nd, 2011
Pages: 288
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Source:

This review was a part of TLC Book Tours. Click here to read what other tour hosts thought. For the purpose of this review I was provided with a copy of the book which did not require a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own.

All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins

"I yearned for love. I’d have it, and now with any ordinary boy, either. It would be overwhelming, undeniable, meant to be Love with a capital L. The kind that caused Johnny Depp to swing from a rope outside the mental hospital in Benny & Joon. The kind that made John Cusack hold up the boom box in the pouring rain so Peter Gabriel could do the talking for him."

All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins falls neatly into the romance genre- one I would usually avoid reading. However like all genres, when done well I can certainly enjoy them, and fortunately All I Ever Wanted is a fun, sweet, and well written novel which makes it clear that Higgins is talented at what she does. The story focus on Callie Grey who turns thirty at the beginning of the novel, while working in marketing and waiting for boss/first kiss/the man she has been in love with for years Mark to finally propose, or at least ask her to be in a relationship. When it turns out that Mark has actually been dating a client's daughter for months- a woman who is now coming to work with Callie and Mark at the company, well let's just say it's not how she expected to start her 30th year. Mark is all she ever wanted, but as the novel progress will Callie finally realize that maybe he isn't what she needs? In the meantime Callie pursues a friendship with the new standoffish vet, Ian, who may have more than a touch of goodness hidden beneath his cool exterior.

For a romance novel, All I Ever Wanted is actually almost entirely PG rated which was a little bit of a surprise. The main relationship focus of the novel- Callie and Ian- takes almost the entire book to actually get going which I found a little surprising and admit at times I was a little impatient for them to get together, however instead of rushing into Higgins allows the characters to grow and get over their past relationships (mostly) first. The huge cast of secondary characters actually managed not to blur together once I got a hang of who was who because they were all so different- from Fleur with her fake British accent, Annie with her grade school romance, Hester with her focus on family without a man, and especially Noah, Callie's grandfather who she lives with and who was warm-hearted and reminded me a little bit of my own late grandfather with his miniature wood carvings as my grandfather used to carve family members walking sticks. The scenes between Callie, who offered to move in with Noah following his stroke and loss of his leg, had nothing to do with romance but were often the most touching ones.

All I Ever Wanted is not a perfect book, Callie hears the voices of Michelle Obama and Betty Boop in her head which I thought was both a little silly and repeated a few more times. I also found a few characters, notably Louis the mortician's assistant and Callie's mother, verged a little on caricature. However Higgins tells a cute, if predictable, story with quirky characters and if you're looking for a good romance novel to read, All I Ever Wanted is likely all you could ever want.

Number of Pages: 409 pages
Published: July 2010
Source: FSB Associates (Review Copy)