Saturday, November 16, 2024
The Sister Pact, by Stacie Ramey
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Deep Water, by Jamie Sumner
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Mascot, by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell
Saturday, November 09, 2024
Always the Almost, by Edward Underhill
Thursday, November 07, 2024
The Lake House, by Sarah Beth Durst
Unable to return to the mainland, and with no means to communicate, the girls have to figure out how to survive. Being suburban girls, they have little to no outdoors experience and working out food, water, and shelter becomes a matter of trial and error -- a terrifying thought when there is a killer is there with them. And that's before they find that there is a much worse adversary out there!
Needing a distraction from politics, I could have embraced an intellectual classic, but I grabbed for a trashy survival/horror novel instead. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. Yes, there were plot holes and some really stretched logic in the storyline, but the tension was kept at a high level and the story was full of irresistable cliffhangers. For anyone who likes clever characters, it was engrossing to watch the girls MacGyver their way out of their problems. But maybe more to the point, each of the girls were interesting and sympathetic. They had very distinct personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. It helped that they didn't snipe at each other but instead worked together to get through it.
The story itself has a wonderful dramatic arc that allows each of the girls to have a moment to grow and be tested. That I cared about their ability to face those fears was startling to me for a book that I had assumed would be a mindless scream fest.
Tuesday, November 05, 2024
Chaos Theory, by Nic Stone
Sunday, November 03, 2024
I Kick and I Fly, by Ruchira Gupta
Things change when she starts to study kung fu through a local program for endangered girls. She excels at the sport and gains confidence. However, the more she becomes determined to break free, the harder the forces arrayed against her try to keep her down. Several times, her martial arts skills actually save her life. Featuring unapologetically explicit depictions of child prostitution and international sex trafficking, the compelling story is impossible to forget.
The author, an Emmy winner for her documentary about the same subject, has created a very digestible novel for young adults. The strength of the story is it veracity. While names are changed, every hero and villain in the story is based on a real person. The storytelling leans towards the melodramatic and the events depicted are conveniently coincidental (probably for the purposes of compressing the storyline), but this helps move everything along at a fine pace. While an upsetting read, the novel balances its grim depictions and its urgent calls for reform with glimmers of hope that provide what is ultimately an inspiring conclusion.