Review: Immagica by K. A. Last

Book Summary
The night before her fifteenth birthday, Rosaline Clayton uncovers a deep family secret. She receives an amulet from her deranged father, and he tells her she must find the book in order to save him. Rosaline is used to her dad not making any sense, so she dismisses their conversation as another of his crazy rants.When Rosaline's brother, Elliot, drags her to their nana's attic to explore, they find the old leather-bound book tucked away in a chest. It sucks them into its pages, transporting them to a magical world. Along the way, Rosaline and Elliot are separated, and the only thing she wants is to find her brother and go home.

The creatures of Immagica have other ideas. After years of war, their land lies in ruin. Using the amulet's power, they want Rosaline to defeat the dragon and restore Immagica to its former glory. But Rosaline is bound to Immagica in ways she doesn't understand, and when she discovers the truth about her family, she must follow her heart to save them all.

Review
The Claytons are your typical family with the usual amount of drama. If by typical and usual you meant Dad kind of talks to himself or inanimate objects,  and Mom is super strict and emotionally distant with the kids, and you and your brother have the same birthday but only two years apart; then yeah, this family is just like yours. 

Not quite the same are they? I bet you’re starting to see your family in a whole lot differently and maybe even a whole lot better. I know I did. But then again, it’s hard not to when your family has a dark past and an even darker secret that has hurt so many people. 

Okay, I am getting ahead of myself. But so far so good, right? Well, it depends on how you want to look at it. 

Our story begins with our heroine, Rosaline, and her brother, Elliot, arriving at their grandmother’s house to celebrate their birthday and the Clayton children are none too happy about it. But something is off about this birthday. Dad is way too quiet and Mom is even stricter, plus, why this birthday did their parents choose to spend it with Nana (aside from the party she was throwing from them)? 

Turns out, there is an Uncle Walter the kids have never heard of and to make matters worse, Dad may not be Rosaline’s father. Also, there is a birthright that belongs to Rosaline but Mom does not want her have it. Dun dun dun! The plot thickens!

Later that night, Dad confronts Rosaline (knowing her to be the eavesdropper that she is) and decides to give her an early birthday present, an amulet with an emerald in the center. He tells she must save Immagica and that he will always be her father and to promise to never forget it. He also warns her that the truth may not always be worth searching for and with that he is on his merry way. 

Speeding things up a bit, Rosaline and Elliot find a book locked away in a chest in the attic and upon opening it, they are thrown into the world of Immagica. There the two are separate and Rosaline is on her own. Yet upon arrival, Rosaline discovers that she can make things as well as people appear with just a thought and ends up meeting Brynn, an olive skinned, jean short wearing, spear wielding spunky chick who tells Rosaline she must get to the Eye, slay the dragon and save Immagica. So much for an adventure.

Brynn leaving Rosaline on her own once more and being of nope help (in Rosaline’s opinion), Rosaline conjures up Ira, a winged unicorn to help her get to the Eye faster as well as look for Elliot. However, things are not as easy as she would have hoped with metal like birds sending pictures back to the dragon and gryphon flying around trying to capture her. Suddenly, Immagica doesn’t seem like a magical place, she still can’t find Elliot and it seems that the dragon is coming closer and closer to winning this war. Plus, there is the unanswered question of who her real father is and the secret that tore and still is tearing her family apart. 

Immagica is similar to the ABC series Once Upon A Time mixed with other fictional and magical stories from childhood that depicts the courage of a young girl who over comes her family’s tragic and regretful past as well as creates a bright future for a trouble world. Of course this story is about family and how one can put aside past and present faults, forgive and love because you are family and you will always have each other. Although, the most important aspect of this story is that you can write your own destiny however you see fit. Take what you can from the past so that it may shape you future.

Reviewed by Camia Rhodes

Book Information
Publisher: K. A. Last
Publication date: 1/27/2014
Pages: 286

Review: The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

Summary 
So, my girlfriend, Cassidy, is threatening to kick me to the curb again, my best friend suddenly wants to put the brakes on our lives of fabulous fun, my mom and big sister are plotting a future in which I turn into an atomic vampire, and my dad, well, my dad is a big fat question mark that I’m not sure I want the answer to. 

Some people would let a senior year like this get them down. Not me. I’m Sutter Keely, master of the party. But don’t mistake a midnight philosopher like me for nothing more than a shallow party boy. Just ask Aimee, the new girl in my life. She saw the depth in the Sutterman from the first moment when she found me passed out on the front lawn. Okay, so she’s a social disaster, but that’s where I come in. 

Yes, life is weird, but I embrace the weird. Let everyone else go marching off into their great shining futures if they want. Me, I’ve always been more than content to tip my whisky bottle and take a ride straight into the heart of the spectacular now. 

Review 
One of the most hopefully disappointing stories I have ever read, The Spectacular Now is an embodiment of a life where we hope for something better that never comes, or have high expectations of things or people in “the now” or the present, only to be constantly let down. Then there are the lives that do not hope or dream, but rather sit and wait for “the spectacular” or the better to get here, forever waiting. However, still an interesting read. 

The Spectacular Now points out the flaws in Sutter Keely, a fun-having, pseudo-philosophical, might-be-an-alcoholic type of guy who lives only for “the spectacular now,” he is the “hero,” or rather, anti-hero of our story. Sutter is truly the life of the party and everyone loves hanging out with him. Until one day his girlfriend, Cassidy, tells him something very important he must do before she breaks up with him and Sutter doesn’t quite get it. Next thing he knows, Cassidy is dumping him because he didn’t consider her feelings before his, which is what she wanted him to do. 

Now “the now” isn’t looking so spectacular but no worries for “the Sutterman,” as he refers to himself, he will wow it up with some whisky in a 7up cup. And whisky always seems to solve the problems but still doesn’t dull the hurt Cassidy put on him (even though he won’t admit it). So Ricky, his best friend, gives him a joint to ease his troubles.  Of course, this doesn’t ease his problems but adds to them. While at a dinner party with his sister, Holly and her husband Kevin (pronounced Keevin), Sutter blazes up and sets one of Kevin’s suits on fire (merely light scorching really) and decides to leave the party, joy riding around town all night, buzzed and high, until he crashes his car. 

When Sutter comes back to the land of consciousness, he is lying in a yard not his own and he can’t remember where his car is. Not only that, but he is face to face with this mousy girl who is holding a bag of newspaper. The girl is Aimee Finecky and she is the most shy, most quiet, and most push-over of a girl he has ever met. 

Aimee fills him in that she is throwing a paper route for her mother while said mother and boyfriend on disability (which is just fat and laziness) go out to the Indian casinos all night. Now Sutter can see where Aimee’s nature comes from, being a doormat in her own home. Sutter takes it upon himself to save this girl and rescue her from her lame life and introduce her to “the spectacular now.” Sutter wants to get Aimee to stand up for herself and stand up to her mother and “Randy-the-Walrus” boyfriend and encourages her to follow her dream of moving to St. Louis with her sister and working for NASA. 

However things don’t go as Sutter plans. First of all, he gets Aimee drinking and whether he will realize it or not, she is turning into a lush like him. But more importantly, he begins dating her, which is the one thing he said he wouldn’t do and the girl has love written all over her face. At least Aimee is starting to stand up for herself more, which is a good thing but Sutter can only hope Aimee gets tired of him before he has to break up with her and ultimately break her heart. 

The Spectacular Now is a disappointing novel as we watch this fun-loving, fake philosopher, alcoholic yet all around good guy Sutter try to live in “the spectacular now,” only to discover that in reality, he is running from the past, present and future; diluting every moment with whisky to escape the unpleasantness of his life. However, The Spectacular Now also hones in on people’s need for something “more.” Where more isn’t some grand fantasy of “the spectacular now,” but more is a future, some reality and not always fighting the lulls of life, yet going along with them, enjoying them even. As if people have learned to turn every day moments into their own kind of “spectacular.” 

I know all that I’ve said wasn’t very kind but I still think it’s a book worth reading. I mean, this novel did make me hope things were going to turn out for the better. That has to count for something. Who knows, maybe Sutter was on to something and maybe when you read The Spectacular Now, you will reach “the spectacular now.”

Reviewed by Camia Rhodes 

Book Information
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publication date: 7/9/2013
Pages: 304

Review: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Book Summary
At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society. 

In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

Review
Whenever I approach non-fiction, I expect to learn something about other people or unfamiliar subjects. However, Quiet is the rare book that offered interesting facts and stories in addition to teaching me something new about myself. Before reading this book, I used to refer to myself as "an extroverted introvert." It was my way of explaining that I wasn't anti-social but all I really wanted was a nice, calm night curled up in sweatpants binge-watching Netflix. Looking at my life experiences through Susan Cain's unique perspective, I can now embrace my need for quiet and recharging solitude with confidence and recognize that introvert doesn't have to be synonymous with misanthrope. 

Throughout my childhood, I was always that well-behaved, freakishly studious kid who got all A's and would rather stay in from recess to hang out under a desk with a pile of books. For the most part, teachers adored me- praising my potential and offering encouragement. But, every teacher-parent conference without fail, my mom would emerge with the same refrain of "I wish she spoke up more in class- her peers could learn so much from her." As I got older, these suggestions grew into requirements, and I would search every syllabus in dread of that one small, hateful word: "participation." It was my Achilles heel, often sending me teetering on the edge between an A and a B. So, I started speaking up more, over the pounding in my ears and the encroaching blush on my cheeks, fighting so hard to overcome this flaw. 

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking resonates with my story through articulating many others like it. The whole book reads like an encouraging and supportive letter from a friend, unraveling every hidden insecurity and converting them all to strengths. Cain lovingly weaves the stories of real-life introverts throughout each chapter: a Harvard business student, an evangelical preacher, a tax lawyer, a co-founder of Apple, a beloved, outspoken professor, and many more. These stories deconstruct harmful stereotypes by providing examples of successful introverts. But they also speak directly to introverted readers, suggesting effective ways to navigate an extrovert's world while still accepting and acknowledging your own needs.

Susan Cain possesses the remarkable ability to slip in and out of genres, moving seamlessly between fact, speculation, and personal narrative. While research remains an important part of her discussion, she manages to  summarize decades of  scientific debates in a few gloriously jargon-free paragraphs which are both informative and accessible.

However, the true strength of her writing lies in her willingness to speak to her audience and to perceive where their interests linger. Momentarily calming the static of psychological speculations and extrovert ideals, Cain gives the voices of the quiet (and artificially boisterous alike) an opportunity to speak uninterrupted and to be heard. One of the great pleasures of reading is seeing the world through new eyes, and Quiet definitely delivers. It's an enjoyable and surprising revelation to both introverts and extroverts alike. 

Reviewed by Miranda Wojciechowski

Book Information
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Publication date: 1/29/2013
Pages: 368

Review: Where It Began by Ann Redisch Stampler

Summary
A teen’s world comes crashing down in this compulsively readable YA debut that’s as literary as it is commercial.

Gabby Gardiner wakes up in a hospital bed looking like a cautionary ad for drunk driving—and without a single memory of the accident that landed her there. But what she can recall, in frank and sardonic detail, is the year leading up to the crash.

As Gabby describes her transformation from Invisible Girl to Trendy Girl Who Dates Billy Nash (aka Most Desirable Boy Ever), she is left wondering: Why is Billy suddenly distancing himself from her? What do her classmates know that Gabby does not? Who exactly was in the car that night? And why has Gabby been left to take the fall?

As she peels back the layers of her life, Gabby begins to realize that her climb up the status ladder has been as intoxicating as it has been morally complex...and that nothing about her life is what she has imagined it to be.

Review
Winston High is home to the elite Wildcats; home to the overly privileged, spoiled, cosmetically perfect teens, which are living a life that is beyond the average high school student. If you were given the opportunity to sit with the cosmetically perfect bimbos and water polo players on the rolling lawn at lunch away from the ordinaries, would you? Absolutely, yes. There is no alternative to the perfect situation. 

Gabriella Gardiner’s entire life dream involves Winston School and dating Billy Nash. When a complete cosmetic transformation from her self-indulging mother takes place, Gabby is not surprised to realize that is all it takes to enjoy the life of the perfect people. With two best friends who do not understand, a mother whose only beliefs are in physical appearance and material values and a father who keeps his nose down and a chilled margarita in hand, Gabby’s options for moral support are limited. Gabby is not only living the dream, she is the dream. She is head of the decorating committee on Student Council, ability to sit on the rolling lawn with the over-privileged kids, and Billy Nash’s girlfriend; the complete package and complete title. Simply nothing else matters.

When one night of partying leads to Billy Nash’s Beemer wrapped around a eucalyptus tree and Gabby waking up with a bashed in head with car keys in hand; life as the cosmetically perfect does not seem all that perfect anymore. Gabby is forced to realize who her true friends are after months of isolation in the hospital with a bad case of trauma inflicted amnesia and no one with any real answers. Her only real source of outside contact is her mother, who is only focused on sneaking away to buy as many cosmetic products as possible in a vain attempt to keep Gabby’s artificial beauty from being permanently tarnished. 

Gabby is telling anyone who will listen that she does not remember anything. No one seems to believe that this could possibly be true, how could she defend a boyfriend who has disappeared from her life since the accident and friends who are nowhere to be found during her recovery? Once released and home for a proper recovery, Gabby is face with a windstorm of legal issues and therapists who are all determined to get Gabby to tell the truth that she “cannot remember,” no matter how hard she tries. Once Billy resurfaces and tells her to keep quiet at all costs, all seems right with the world again. It is not until Gabby’s three best friends reveal to her that Billy is the true scum bag that they have been claiming all along because he is the one who crashed the Beemer and planted the keys in Gabby’s hand while leaving her unconscious and stranded at the scene of the crime.

This novel demonstrates the ultimate ways in which peer pressure that occurs during a teenager’s adolescent years can take complete control over one’s life decisions. Gabby is a very talented artist and kind hearted person who recognizes who her true friends are, but is blinded by the shining light that is illuminating the “popular kids” and their over privileged lifestyles. The only morals and values that her mother conveys is that natural beauty does not cut it and finding the “appropriate” man to be with and college to attend depends on what is socially acceptable. Without any real guidance or parental figures to guide Gabby, she is left to the deceiving hands of her peers and her surrounding upper-class society that does not leave any material value untouched. 

I recommend this novel to any teenage or young adult reader who enjoys a novel that they can relate to based on their age or personal experiences growing up. High school is one of the most difficult transition periods for most adolescents, and Gabby Gardiner is a depiction of the typical teen girl looking for something more than just fitting in, social acceptance. In my opinion, Anne Stampler’s novel demonstrates how most teens do not recognize any boundaries when working to socialize with their peers, and when attempting to make what is considered the ‘right’ decision. 

Gabby is forced to take on all of these challenges at once while dealing with amnesia, friends who are trying to hold back their opinion out of respect, and parents who are too self-absorbed to truly care or attempt to understand; an experience that no person should have to go through. I became very frustrated with Gabby’s naivety and also her lack of self-preservation when it came to communicating and dating Billy Nash. On the other hand, it took me half way through the novel to realize that the decisions Gabby made she made out of her own personal desires, but without any guidance or anyone to truly talk to, she was making the worst decisions of all. How can one truly find the answers to a situation that everyone is either hiding the truth, or only telling you what you want to hear? Gabby is the poster girl for deception and manipulation, so how will she pull herself from the dangerous depths of the cosmetically perfect and polo playing peers that only pretend to have her best interests at heart?

Reviewed by Nicole Williams

Book Information
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication date: 2/19/2013
Pages: 369

Review: How To Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer

Summary
How to Breathe Underwater, by Julie Orringer, is composed of nine stories, all dealing with youth in its varying forms. In “The Isabel Fish”, Maddy grapples with the misplaced grief and blame of her brother, and her paralyzing fear of water after a terrible car crash in a lake. In “Note to Sixth-Grade Self”, you’re reminded of the chilling cruelty that young girls are capable of—specifically, their elaborate social castes and lack of empathy for the “outcast”. In “What We Save” young Helena is forced to spend the day with her mother’s old prom date and his seemingly perfect (and tan) family at Disney World, where she watches her cancer-stricken mother struggle in the heat of Florida, and the heat of memory. Each story is told in a wise, but youthful voice—narrators with old souls, stuck in a child’s body, commenting, with veracity, on the day-to-day pitfalls of life.

Review
Julie Orringer knows a child’s mind like the back of her own hand. But these are extraordinary youth, mixed in with a few young adults still caught up in their pasts. Her writing is white-hot in its directness, but emotive, tinged by a vague sadness for these nine situations. Take for example these lines from the story, “When She Is Old and I Am Famous,” when the protagonist compares her own body with her beautiful cousin’s: “Isn’t it funny, how I’ve learned to say it? I am fat. I am not skin or muscle or gristle or bone. What I am, the part of my body that I most am, is fat. Continuous, white, lighter that water, a source of energy. No one can hold all of me at once.” She manages to capture the grim humor in this statement, and her character doesn’t come across as self-pitying but as merely candid. This is true for the rest of her eight stories: the situations vary, but her protagonists’ tight grasps on the reality of situations—despite their external actions—is astounding and refreshing. 

There are a few themes that I was able to discern while reading this collection. Orringer is interested in body image—specifically, the young girl/woman’s version of it. This, of course, makes complete sense because there is no time more awkward and painful than this. The intricacies of body image, for a young woman, are boundless and charged with emotion. Secondly, the idea of religion is present throughout the collection. Several protagonists are identified as Jewish—mostly lapsed in their synagogue-going ways. In “The Smoothest Way Is Full of Stones”, a young girl is sent to live with her extremely religious aunt and uncle and cousins. Throughout the story, her cousin, who is supposed to be the newly minted religious advocate, slowly slips from her faith, when tempted by an “unholy” book that contains sexual content. Our protagonist, however, becomes more and more enamored by the Jewish faith—it’s many rules and disciplines and sense of safety it inspires in her. The juxtaposition of an outsider slipping in, and the insider falling away, is incredible and thought provoking. 

Every one of these stories is worth a slow, scrutinizing read. There is so much wisdom packed between the lines, and so much beauty, used sparingly and effectively, which makes it all the more worth while. I believe these stories will especially speak to women: those who are either still caught up in youth, or wanting to remember that fresh, excruciating bloom, which is both terrible and great.

Reviewed by M.B. Sellers

Book Information
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date: 4/12/2005
Series: Vintage Contemporaries Series
Pages: 240

Review: Dyed and Gone by Beth Yarnall

Summary
Hairstylist Azalea March is looking forward to a wild weekend in Las Vegas with her friends. Oh, sure, they’re supposed to be there on business, attending the biggest hair show on the west coast, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have a little fun.

But fun quickly turns to drama. On the first morning of the show, Dhane, the biggest celeb of the hair-styling world, is found dead. As it turns out, Azalea’s friend Vivian not only knew Dhane, but the tale she weaves of how they met is faker than a showgirl’s uh…assets. When Vivian confesses to the murder and is arrested, Azalea knows there’s no way she could have done it and suspects Vivian may be trying to protect someone. But who?

Azalea now has to convince Alex, the sexy detective from her past, to help her prove Vivian’s innocence and comb through clues more twisted than a spiral perm. But the truth is stranger than anything found on the Las Vegas Strip, and proving Vivian’s innocence turns out to be more difficult than transforming a brunette into a blonde.

Review
Whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas right? Well, if you had the sort of weekend these three did, I don’t think you want to be heading back anytime soon. Down in the dumps dealing with her man woes, Vegas couldn’t have come at a better time for Azalea March. Ending her marathon of depressing movies along with impulsive shopping to soothe her woes, her two friends Vivian, her business partner and Juan Carlos were determined to yank her out of her funk. Heading for Vegas for the weekend wasn’t going to just be about fun, since they were hairstylists, they were heading there for the biggest hair show event of the year. Little did they know what they were in store for...

While enjoying themselves at the convention, they encounter the biggest celeb of the hair world Dhante. To Azalea and Juan Carlos’s surprise, he and Vivian seemed to know each other very well. Wondering why this is the first they were hearing about the pair knowing each other, she tells them a story that just doesn’t seem to add up. Later that day, tragedy strikes when Dhante is found dead but their world gets turned upside when Vivian is linked to the murder. Knowing that there is no way her best friend could be involved, she goes from hairstylist to detective to try and solve this case that uncovers secrets that leads down a dangerous path to solve the case.

I honestly had my doubts in the beginning of this book but as the book progressed, I didn’t want to stop reading. When I saw the cover, my thoughts were that this was going to be a cutesy sort of book but I was really impressed with the quality of her writing and overall structure of the book. I thought the overall plot of the story was one that not only was entertaining but it was engaging as each layer of the story was revealed to give the reader new information that kept them guessing. She gives you just enough to detail that keeps you guessing without being predictable. The star of the book, Azalea, never lost her shine. She was fun to read, especially with her relationships with the other characters in the book with their witty banter makes you chuckle as you follow along. There are a couple of side stories in the book with a little romance that add a little sweetness to the book but overall I think you will enjoy this delightful whodunit!

Reviewed by Michelle Bowles 

Book Information
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Publication date: 3/25/2014
Pages: 400