Mosquitoland by David Arnold

“I am a collection of oddities, a circus of neurons and electrons: my heart is the ringmaster, my soul is the trapeze artist, and the world is my audience. It sounds strange because it is, and it is, because I am strange.” 

Mosquitoland, by David Arnold turned out to be a fantastic book along the lines of Eleanor & Park and All the Bright Places.

The book tells the story of Mary Iris Malone, “acroname” Mim, who has been transported by her dad and his new wife from Ohio to Mississippi – aka Mosquitoland.  After overhearing a conversation between her parents and a school administrator, Mim comes to the terrifying realization that her real mom is sick.

Without waiting to get the whole story, Mim runs home, packs the pills she takes for her purported mental illness, steals her stepmom’s stash of cash, and sets off on an epic Greyhound bus journey from Mississippi to Ohio.

Along the way, Mim meets the Carlest of Carls, the Clairest of Claires, and Arlene, a grande dame of the old school.  She also finds a sense of belonging with Walt, a mentally challenged homeless kid with a Rubik’s Cube and a love of baseball and shiny things, and the handsome, slightly older Beck, a guy on a bus journey of his own.

Mosquitoland is hilarious and touching at the same time, and I feel sure this first reading will be followed by a few more.

LAME FACTOR: 0 of 5, of course.

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  It’s pretty tame, all things considered.

BRAIN POWER:  The writing is fantastic.  It will be good for your brain cells to get some exercise. 

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I absolutely loved Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi.  The first in a series of three books, Shatter Me introduces the characters who play throughout: Juliette, Adam, and Warner. Two guys?  You already see a problem.

The story opens with the main character, Juliette, imprisoned in an asylum.  In this dystopian society, there is no touchy feely treatment of sick people or prisoners.  Instead, Juliette has been locked away in a very solitary solitary confinement without sufficient food or comfort of any kind.  When we first meet her, she seems to be teetering on the edge of insanity as a result of the isolation.  She also struggles with the knowledge of what she is and what she can do: a person who can kill someone simply by touching him/her.

Just when Juliette seems ready to lose it completely, she gets a roommate, Adam.  Young, good-looking, and curious enough about Juliette that he actually wants to talk to her, he is your basic hot guy character.  But maybe Adam isn't everything he appears to be (except the hot part; that seems accurate).  Is he there to help Juliette or to hurt her?

When she is suddenly dragged out of her cell and brought to the young commanding officer, Warner, things take an unexpected change.  Warner, it appears, believes that Juliette would make the perfect tool in his army.  He also has a massive - and a little bit inexplicable - instantaneous attraction to Juliette.  Oh - and Adam seems to work for him.

So is Adam a traitor?  What's Warner's deal?  Is Juliette going to fall for him or maybe for Adam after all?  You'll just have to read it and find out.

LAME FACTOR:  I loved it so a definite 0/5.

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  In spite of Juliette's supposed inability to touch anyone without killing him, there is lots of touching, but nothing too explicit.

BRAIN POWER:  The story is well-written but easy enough for the average reader.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss was one of those books that got me so hooked into the relationships between the characters that I wanted to skip to the end to see what happened.  I would like to say that I was mature and resisted the temptation, but I only held out overnight and then took a look.

Anna Oliphant, a student happily heading into her senior year in high school in Atlanta, has her world turned upside down when her father announces that he has signed her up for a year in a Parisian boarding school, mainly so that he can show off to his friends.

I don't think it takes much imagination to figure out that Anna absolutely hates the idea.  She wants to be with her mom and brother, to develop her relationship with her latest romantic interest, Toph, and to hang out and enjoy her last year of high school with her best friend.  Worse, when she does arrive in Paris, she feels as though she doesn't fit in.  She's intimidated by the people, by her inability to speak French, and by all of the unfamiliar territory around her.

But Anna is a really likeable girl and soon enough she makes friends, including the American/British/French hybrid Etienne St. Clair.  Anna barely has to look at him before she totally falls for him - as is the likely reaction of the reader as well.  He is simultaneously cool and nerdy, troubled and sweet.  He also has a long time girlfriend, something neither Anna nor Etienne is willing to forget.

So how does it turn out?  Have some self-control (unlike yours truly) and read it through to the end.

LAME FACTOR: 0 of 5 of course!

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  There are some normal teenage shenanigans.

BRAIN POWER:  You can handle it.

via GIPHY

Review Time: Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallach

Thanks for the Trouble was an interesting book on many levels.  First of all - as always with a good book - there were the characters.  Parker is a teenage boy who has suffered a tragedy that has left him unable to speak.  He is sweet and funny and kind and, ironically, he has a real talent for words as he demonstrates through the stories he writes.

Zelda is a total throwback to another time - "anachronistic," Parker says.  She appears to be young, but she has the knowledge and experience of someone much older.  She has a sophisticated understanding of art and music, alcohol and food, cities and countries.  She is nothing like anyone Parker has ever encountered, and he falls for her immediately.

The book also has a cast of secondary characters, each well developed in his or her own way, each one bringing his/her own spin on some element of the story.  I especially liked Parker's friend Alana, who is tough and funny and super smart - the prodigy of the school chess club.

And then there is there is the plot.  I really enjoyed some aspects of the plot because they were so original - the interactions of a young and silent petty thief who preys on unsuspecting tourists in hotels meeting a silver-haired young woman who carries around a giant wad of cash and calls herself Zelda.  I kept wondering how the author came up with it all because it was so atypical.  In addition, strewn throughout the story there are thought provoking messages about love, life, and suffering.

But something happened.  Weirdness.  The insertion of a seemingly fantasy element that left me wondering if I had actually understood anything.  I'm not sure that part was necessary (although I'm sure the author would disagree!) but the twist doesn't detract enough from the story to ruin it.

Overall, Thanks for the Trouble was engaging and original and definitely worth a read.

LAME FACTOR:  I'm going to have to throw in a 1 for the plot twist, so 1/5.

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  I suppose you know your parents best.  Younger readers should probably check in with them first.

BRAIN POWER:  The book is extremely well written with some awesome vocabulary.  Go learn something.

Book Nerds Unite!

via GIPHY

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - Review Time

To know me is to know that I love Rainbow Rowell, or more specifically, that I am obsessed with her book Eleanor & Park which I consider to be some sort of YA literary perfection.  If you're like me, when you feel this way about a book, you want another so you go searching through the author's other works with the hopes that there will be another one that is just as good.  And while I'm not sure anything could live up to my Eleanor & Park level expectations, Fangirl definitely did not disappoint.

The novel follows the story of twin sisters Cath and Wren as they begin college.  Throughout their teen years, the two of them experienced their own literary obsession with a series of books featuring characters named Simon and Baz.  Cath has become a very popular and prolific author of fan fiction related to the series, and continues this into college.  Wren?  Not so much.  She has other things to think about - like guys and alcohol.  Silly Wren.

Cath clearly uses Simon and Baz as a kind of coping mechanism and I'm cool with that because I found her to be so totally likeable - and relatable.  Let's face it: if you're a big reader (the kind of person who reads excessively and perhaps, writes a book review blog) there's a pretty good chance you have a lot of nerdy tendencies.  Along with that, you may be a bit on the anxiety-riddled side.  I know I am.  So when we learn that Cath has brought along several boxes of protein bars and a giant jar of peanut butter because she's afraid to confront the unfamiliar territory of the dining hall, I could totally relate.  This made me feel comfortable, like Cath and I were sharing some struggles.

Will Cath remain cloistered in her room, friendless, loveless, sisterless? Of course not.  Enter Levi, her roommate's sort of boyfriend.  Levi is one of the most pleasant male characters I've ever encountered - considerate, sweet, as friendly as a puppy.  Watching their relationship develop was one of the highlights of the book.

I can't say I was a super big fan of the fan fiction and, frankly, I started skimming it after a while. That said, I don't feel that it was a hindrance to enjoying the book at all.

LAME FACTOR: 0 of 5 without a doubt

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR: Nope

BRAIN POWER:  Well written but accessible to all.

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon - The Review

After having read two books that I didn't enjoy, Everything Everything was a welcome relief!  The characters, what have I been saying about characters?  They are the stuff that make a book enjoyable - at least for me - and these two were great.

Just when I started thinking all the original ideas had been taken, Everything Everything introduces Maddy, who suffers from a kind of "girl in the bubble" syndrome.  She hasn't been out of her house in forever (literally) and the only people with whom she has direct contact are her mom, who is a doctor, and her nurse, the warm and loving Carla.  Everybody else is just a face on a computer screen.

Carla seems surprisingly well adjusted for someone who's facing down a future of being trapped in her house without the prospect of real live friends or of even breathing unfiltered air.  She reads, she studies, she has a great relationship with her mom - who has given up everything but her job to tend to Maddy - and Carla.

Clearly, that's not going to be enough, either for Maddy or for us.  Enter Olly.  Dressed all in black (aren't they all?), Olly is funny and smart and sweet.  He's also persistent and isn't put off by the fact that he and Carla won't ever really be able to meet?  Or will they?

I'm not going to spoil things here, people, except to say that I was satisfied with the way things worked out.  You should read it and find out exactly how it does work out.

LAME FACTOR:  Happily, a 0 out of 5.

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  For the most part, they will not, although perhaps this isn't for super young readers (less than 8th grade).

BRAIN POWER:  The story is very well written, but there's nothing too tricky here.

via GIPHY