REVIEW: Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando

Guest review by Hayley

'Roomies' by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando covers a pivotal period of the teenage years which doesn't feature in YA very often, the transitional summer between high school and college. The story centres around Elizabeth, also known as EB and Lauren who will be college room mates in two months and begin exchanging emails as their summer progresses.

I love books told via emails, letters and journals and although 'Roomies' isn't told entirely through the emails the two girls exchange I enjoyed how the emails were used and how they demonstrated the developing friendship between EB and Lauren. This also provided me with a does of nostalgia for my own life at this age which I spent writing letters to friends all over the country.

As expected on the surface the two main characters are rather different. EB lives in New Jersey with her Mother and is an only child. Lauren lives in San Francisco near the university the two girls will soon attend with her parents and 5 younger siblings. EB lives a somewhat solitary home life with a Mother often working or going on ill­-advised dates, whereas Lauren has a loving home life yet little free time due to helping out with her siblings and also has two part-­time jobs.

I really enjoyed this book, my favourite element was that the focus was on the importance and emergence of a strong friendship between EB and Lauren. While there are important romantic developments in the lives of both characters the key to the book is the importance of friendship as a foundation to the rest of life. I enjoy YA romances as much as the next person but it did feel like a breath of fresh air to have friends as the focus rather than romance.

I also thought 'Roomies' did a really good job at dissecting the limbo of life between school and college. Both girls are emerging as adults and testing their new found independence yet still navigating the demands of family and their expectations.

The emerging friendship also liberates both girls from the demands of their existing friendships which gave me something to think about. Whilst having friends for many years can provide a stabilising foundation it can also restrict personal growth in the glare of how those friends the expect you to act and behave. This seems a particularly relevant issue when the characters are at such a crossroads in their lives and one of them is about to move many miles away from home.

I also liked the fact that neither of the girls is shown to be wealthy and both work at part-­time jobs during the summer. I find a lot of YA, particularly American books show very privileged teens who live financially carefree in large bedrooms filled with the latest gadgets and their own brand-new cars. Whilst as escapism this is fine it's also alienating for those of us with more humble lives.

The ending, while a little predictable was perfect, although at the same time I would have happily read another 300 pages as I had become so fond of both characters. I was already a fan of Sara Zarr's but I will definitely investigate Tara Altebrando's previous work now too.

Thank you so much, Hayley! 

REVIEW: Cruel Summer by James Dawson

Review by Hayley

Tagline: It's murder under the sun...

A group of friends scarred by the suicide of a close friend the year before reunite at a Spanish villa in the hope of laying some demons to rest and salvaging the scraps of their friendships, if only it didn't start to look more and more like the suicide was actually a murder someone will go to any lengths to prevent being discovered...

As a fan of psychological thrillers I'm quite interested in the recent emergence of YA thrillers. During my own teen years I read countless Point Horror, R.L Stine and Christopher Pike books so I had high hopes that 'Cruel Summer' would scratch my nostalgic itch, particularly as these authors are name-checked in the acknowledgements!

Unfortunately 'Cruel Summer' just didn't work for me. Although the book revolves around a group of characters all of whom seem to harbour resentments towards at least one other member of the group, the majority of the story unfolds from Ryan's perspective.

Ryan, a very dramatic and ambitious drama student likes to see his life unfolding as the plot on a T.V show and constantly refers to events along the lines of 'that doesn't happen until the 3 season...' something which quickly becomes irritating,. It's also a shame because he is the least intriguing character here when there are twins Greg and Alisha, Greg with a burgeoning career as a successful footballer but with a secret that throws his life into turmoil and Alisha, a recovering alcoholic still suffering the emotional repercussions of being dumped the previous summer. There's also Katie whose villa the group are staying in, an elusive 'good girl' still struggling with the part she played in the betrayal of Janey the friend who died, and then of course there's Ben, Janey's boyfriend and Katie's first love.

This is quite a fast paced book and to its credit I went back and forth over who I thought was behind the various sinister developments. The short chapters often end with a dramatic moment which the compels you to keep reading and I enjoyed reading the chapters from Alisha's perspective, mainly as she seemed to be the only character not behaving like a complete spoilt brat every five minutes.

Although you could see the plotting and characters here as a homage to the teen horror films and books of the 90s which all feature mostly archetypal characters like the jock, the nerd etc,  I do think this style could have been put to use more cleverly if the characters had been developed more. Ryan refers to his friends as 'the jock, the geek, the good girl and the bad girl' but all this really does is highlight how little we get to know them.

The ending of the book had some surprises, particularly in its last few pages although by the end things were no longer just about tying up the loose ends of the previous summer. I did think the eventual motivation for the unsettling events at the villa seemed a little bit flimsy but it wasn't the most unbelievable element of the story.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick read with characters you wouldn't want to relate to, its certainly entertaining if shallow and will definitely help you to appreciate your friends if, as I'd hope, they're nothing like this bunch!

Thank you so much, Hayley!

REVIEW: Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn

Guest review by Hayley

Writing about ‘Charm & Strange’ by Stephanie Kuehn is a pretty difficult task, I can definitely see what the author was trying to achieve here, but at the same time I couldn’t say I really enjoyed a moment of it. I’m sure this book wasn’t written to be enjoyable but I couldn’t say I found it very compelling or gripping either.

The story revolves around Andrew an incredibly complex and difficult teenager who is convinced he has inherited a dark curse that has been passed down through his family. The book flips back and forth between what is happening with Andrew as he navigates his prestigious boarding school life and his strange and tangled past.

Although I am usually drawn to difficult and troubled characters I didn’t really warm to Andrew so I found it difficult to feel connected to the story as it unfolded, and mostly felt disdain towards him and his behaviour.

Another reason this book is difficult to review is because there are some huge revelations which, while hinted at throughout the book are only fully revealed at the end, making it impossible to really discuss what ‘Charm & Strange’ is REALLY about.

At times I was reminded of ‘Liar’ by Justine Larbalestier, a book I read a few months ago with a similarly troubled narrator who can’t really be trusted to tell you the truth. Maybe that was one of my problems here, the story felt familiar and I knew I’d read better versions of it before.

I would still be interested in reading more books by Stephanie Kuehn but I hope that any subsequent books would be more compelling and less ambiguous with character development I could appreciate more.

Thank you, Hayley, for that interesting review!

REVIEW: The Night She Disappeared by April Henry

Guest review by Hayley

As a fan of adult crime books I’d really like to see more of a crime books emerging in YA, so ‘The Night She Disappeared’ by April Henry seemed like a book that would be right up my alley. The premise is enough to get your heart racing: one evening when Gabie should be working at her pizza delivery job a man calls asking if she can deliver his order, only for Kayla, the girl who goes in her place to disappear…

I really liked the format of this book which switches between the perspectives of Gabie, the girl left behind to try and come to terms with the fact that not only is her work friend missing but that she was the target, Drew, another work colleague and the only person who knows what the attacker sounds like, Kayla, the victim and occasionally the sinister perpetrator. Interspersed with the alternating viewpoints are transcripts of emergency services phonecalls, police reports and scrawled notes, all of which contribute to the authenticity of this book as a great example of crime writing.

I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Gabie and Drew as they are united in the misery of Kayla’s disappearance. Although the combination of a privileged girl and a disadvantaged guy has been played out more times than I can count, its pretty easy to understand why these two would seek solace in the only other person they think can understand.

This is a precisely plotted book that clips along at a relentless pace, so much so that I felt like I was racing myself towards the end. It’s interesting as the story develops to see not only the traumatic implications of the events on those at the centre of the story, but the impact that Kayla’s disappearance has on the wider community. There are some nice observational details around the way the media and local residents deal with the tragedy, particularly when the pizza place that the teenagers work at becomes notoriously popular.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a thrilling read even if you haven’t read the crime genre before, ‘The Night She Disappeared’ would definitely serve as a great introduction. This is also the kind of book where you can easily imagine yourself in the position of the characters, how would you feel if your co-worker disappeared but you knew it was actually you they wanted? A gripping read that leaves you with plenty to consider afterwards.

Thank you for that Hayley!

REVIEW: Parallel by Lauren Miller

Guest review by Hayley

Although I didn’t know a great deal about ‘Parallel’ by Lauren Miller before I started reading I was sold by the claim on the cover that it’s ‘Sliding Doors meets The Time Traveler’s Wife’. Those are both amongst my favourites and in general I love time slip/time travel stories, so it seemed like an easy win. I was still unprepared for just how much I would love this book though.

The premise is that Abby Barnes, a super focused high school senior finds herself on a completely different path to the one she’d anticipated, and all as a result of having to change one of her lessons to a drama class. Of course things are about to get far more complicated once the day after her eighteenth birthday Abby wakes up in a university dorm in another part of the country and no idea how she got there…Abby soon discovers she is living a parallel version of her life, which changes every time her ‘other’ self makes a decision.

Each chapter alternates between the two Abby’s who are a year apart, one is in her last year of high school, the other her first year at college. I find American high schools and colleges fascinating to read about and it was a nice change to read a YA book set in an Ivy League college. I loved the well-rounded characters in this book, particularly BFF Caitlin and Josh one of the love interests. The characters really seemed to develop throughout the book and not just exist purely to move Abby’s character forward.

The complicated nature of the story was handled really well and I didn’t spot any loopholes created to make the story more feasible, it was incredibly well thought out and I found it fascinating. We all know how small events can change the path we find ourselves on but it was really interesting to read about all of the idiosyncrasies that can have an impact on these changes.

‘Parallel’ certainly gave me plenty to think about particularly as a person who likes to plan! It’s a very ambitious debut that really delivers an engrossing and impeccably executed story. The ending was perfect but still left me wanting more. I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone else who is fascinated by the concept of parallel lives and there’s plenty of tension, suspense and romance in the mix.

Sounds brilliant! Thank you so much Hayley :)