Content Reviews: YA Contemporary [1]

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Goodreads: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Series: Companion book to Anna and the French Kiss

Publication Date: September 29, 2011

Source: Gifted

Summary:  Seventeen-year-old Lola Nola thinks herself nearly perfectly happy.  She has a great best friend, a super-cool older rock star boyfriend, and lots of talent sewing original clothing.  Her world is shattered, however, when the Bells, specifically eighteen-year-old Cricket Bell, move back next door.  Two years of hating him, and how he left her, cannot stop her from secretly wanting him back in her life.

Conclusions:  Lola and the Boy Next Door is a sweet, uplifting book that has fantastic messages about being true to oneself, learning to forgive, and living up to potential.  Although Lola faces many challenges in her life, including complicated relationships with boys and her own family, she always manages to find her way back to herself and to some type of truth about how to live a good and fulfilling life.  

On the romance front, there is some underage, premarital sex.  It is not treated casually, but neither is it condemned as immoral.  Beyond this, however, the messages Lola and the Boy Next Door sends are sound.  Friends and family caution against Lola's relationship with a much-older boy (He's 22).  Ultimately, Lola learns that good relationships are based on honesty and respect, and that they should inspire the individuals in them to be the best versions of themselves they can be.

On the familial front, Lola learns from the bad example of her mother that drinking, drugs, and teen pregnancy are all bad ideas.   She has, however, been raised by her uncle Nathan and his partner Andy in a loving household.  So although she encounters pot and alcohol within the book, she does not herself participate.

Overall, this is just as inspirational a read as it is an adorable romance.

Tempestuous by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes

Goodreads: Tempestuous

Series: Twisted Lit #1

Publication Date: December 18, 2012

Source: Borrowed

Summary: A modern day retelling of The Tempest by William Shakespeare.  

Conclusions:  The story is based on Shakespeare, so a bit of cursing and vulgarity is to be expected.  The book is appropriately YA, however, and nothing gets out of hand.

The romance is very sweet and, like Lola, Miranda discovers that being in a relationship is just about "being loved for who you are" but about aspiring to be better.  Of course a significant other should accept you and love you, and not enter a relationship with the intention of changing you, but that does not mean you never need to grow or improve yourself.  Good boyfriends and girlfriends help you in your personal journey to become a kinder or more patient or more confident.  Tempestuous is a rare YA book that points this out.

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

Goodreads: Lock and Key

Series: None

Publication Date: April 22, 2008

Source: Gifted  

Summary:  After Ruby's mother disappears, Ruby is sent to live with her older sister Cora, whom she has not seen in years.  Cora has a new, upscale life that Ruby never knew about, and she is certain she does not want to become a part of it now.  The cute boy next door is only making matters more complicated.

Conclusions:  Lock and Key features a clean romance.  Here, the story is mainly about Ruby finding herself and interacting/flirting with a guy, rather than about their romantic relationship.  The main character does deal with minor drinking and drug problems, but they are portrayed as problems, and not either normal or acceptable actions.  She also struggles with family problems, as her mother seems unwilling to take responsibility for her children, but Ruby does ultimately start working on building stable relationships.  The message is that you can be who you want in life, and that the mistakes of your parents do not need to define you.

Content Reviews: YA Witches

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Goodreads: Born Wicked

Series: The Cahill Witch Chronicles #1

Publication Date: Feb. 7, 2012

Source: Library

Summary:

As witches, Cate Cahill and her two younger sisters have always been in danger.  Witchcraft is feared in New England, and the Brotherhood is always looking for an excuse to haul women away to Harwood Asylum or to some mysterious fate.  But when Cate finds their mother’s diary, which talks about a prophecy of three sisters with powers, she learns they may be in more peril than she had dreamed, not only from the Brotherhood, but from others willing to use their talents for their own ends, and even from each other.

Conclusions:

Obviously, there is witchcraft in this book.  The Brotherhood, who are the men in charge of government on every level, teach in the Sunday schools that witchcraft is bad, a gift from the devil.  The Brotherhood, however, are the obvious villains in the story, cruel men who oppress women and spy on everyone in their eagerness to condemn the sins of others.  Their opinions are generally meant to be discounted by the reader.

Witches, it seems, can be either good or bad, depending on how they use their power.  The protagonists, clearly, are good ones.  Cate does not particularly like her own magic, having inherited from her mother the thought that it is a curse that mainly puts her and her sisters in danger.  Her sisters use their magic mostly to amuse themselves or to retaliate in minor ways against the other sisters when they are angry.  No one is doing terribly wicked things here.

The theme that women are being oppressed and are expected to act like silly, frivolous dolls runs strong throughout the book.  Cate and her sisters are somewhat exceptionally educated for their society and like to flout other societal roles.  Cate often mentions, in conjunction with the Brotherhood’s hatred of witches, that they punish lesbians equally as harshly.  She is in favor of homosexual couples, and one such couple forms and kisses during the story.

The romance between Cate and her suitors is kept to kissing.

Chime by Franny Billingsley

Goodreads: Chime

Series:  none

Publication Date: March 17, 2011

Source: Library

Summary: 

Briony has always known she is wicked.  Her stepmother told her to hide her powers and to never use them or tell anyone else.  But now her stepmother is dead, and a handsome young men has come to board at her house instead.  And he seems to think that Briony is not wicked at all.

Conclusions:

Unlike in Born Wicked, the witchcraft in Chime appears to be unanimously frowned upon.  Briony despises her own witchy powers and the terrible things she believes she has done with them when she became overly jealous or angry and lost control.  She spends the majority of the book attempting to suppress her witchcraft and reminding herself what a horrible person she is, so she will not be inspired to use it again.  This self-hatred is at times excessive, although the reader can see the differences between Briony’s own thoughts and the reality of the situation.

All the other witches introduced in the book are evil.  The Old Ones, who seem to be things like river spirits that are more powerful than witches and older than them, can be either dangerous or harmless, depending on their own personalities.  They are part of the nature of the area, and their assumed extinction in the future, as technology takes over, is mourned even though the area will become much safer for travelers.  As it is, anyone who enters the swamp must carry a paper with a Scripture verse in order to defend against death or worse.

The romance in the story is clean.  Briony is the daughter of a pastor, who adheres by his rules even if she sometimes dreams of being as free as other young people, and Eldric, the love interest, likes to be chivalrous.

Content Reviews: YA Dystopians

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Goodreads: Wither

Series: The Chemical Garden #1

Published: March 22, 2011

Source: Purchased

Summary:

Due to some failures of genetic engineering, all females now die at the age of twenty, and all males at twenty-five.  Rhine is planning on making the most of the four years she has left.  But then she is kidnapped, forced to become one of the polygamous brides to one of the wealthy men seeking to keep the populating rising.  Life with her new husband has its perks—a constant supply of food, no more worries about being murdered, more luxury than she could have imagined.  Yet nothing can compare to the love she has for her twin brother, and she will do anything to make her way back to him.

Conclusions:

Wither is a very “content-heavy” book, particularly for a young adult novel.  The readers know right away that there is polygamy.  There is next implied sex, and then implied sex between a thirteen-year-old girl and a twenty-one-year-old man (who are married).  There are mentions of prostitution, which seems to be a fairly common occupation for young ladies in this society.

DeStefano clearly attempts to lessen the impact of some of this by having the main character refuse to have sex with her husband.  Only the other girls, with whom the readers are supposed to sympathize slightly less, do.  She and the other girls interact mostly as friends and act as “sister wives” primarily when they want to overwhelm their husband with attention so he will grant them favors.

There is little violence and no cursing.

Religion appears to have been eradicated.  Characters talk about “fate” instead of “God.”

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Goodreads: Delirium

Series: Delirium #1

Published: Feb. 1, 2011

Source: Purchased

Summary:

All citizens must undergo an operation in their teenage years to make them forever immune to the disease of love.  Lena is counting down the days until she becomes a grown-up—and free from all the worries and dangers that emotions bring.  Then she meets Alex, who would like to convince her that love is actually something beautiful.

Conclusions:

The premise of this dystopian is that love is a disease.  Therefore, touching or even much interaction between people of different genders is not allowed.  Clearly, the protagonist of a book in such a society needs to rebel against these rules.  Mostly there is kissing.  She mentions once that Alex thinks she is beautiful without her shirt on, but there is nothing graphic described and there is no sex.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Goodreads: Insurgent

Series: Divergent #2

Published: May, 1 2012

Source: Purchased

SPOILERS FOR DIVERGENT

Summary:

Now that Erudite has revealed their intention to take over society with their mind-controlling serums, Tris and Four are ready to fight.  Yet it will take some convincing for Amity to join a war and for Candor to care for more than the safety of their own faction.

Conclusions:

Beyond the plot (which is awesome!), Insurgent is interesting mainly for its discussion of morality.  Although Tris, and the book in general, like to talk about shades of gray, it seems obvious that there is some sense of the existence of absolute morality at work.  One character, one of the traitors and therefore a “bad guy,” argues that he made his decisions because “Evil depends on where you stand.”  Tris immediately retorts that certain things will always be evil to her, no matter where she stands.

Roth also writes a little more about religion in her society, and all the factions seem to relate to it differently.  Dauntless does not appear to have much religious belief.  Amity is very spiritual, gathering in groups to pray together and talk in a community.  Abnegation’s beliefs seems closest to traditional Christianity.  All religions are respected by other factions.

The romance continues to be as it was in Divergent.  Tris and Four kiss (strangely, usually in the midst of highly dangerous situations).  They occasionally sleep in the same bed at night.

Obviously there is violence, as there is a war on.

Content Reviews: YA Paranormal with Angels

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Goodreads: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1

Publication Date: Sept. 29, 2011

Source: Purchased

Summary:

Karou has always been interested in drawing.  Her sketchbook his filled with half-human creatures that only she knows are real.  One of them, the trader Brimstone, raised her as his own, sometimes taking her on his journeys to collect the teeth that he pays for in wishes.  Karou’s secret life and her normal one as a student in Prague suddenly come together when black handprints start showing up on all the portals that lead to Brimstone’s shop.  And an annoying but sometimes charming angel starts asking Karou questions as if she is the key to everything.

Conclusions:

There are some obvious mentions of sex in this book.  In the beginning, the reader learns that Karou slept with her ex-boyfriend.  Her guardian Brimstone tells her: “I don’t know many rules to live by.  But here’s one. It’s simple. Don’t put anything unnecessary into yourself. No poisons or chemicals, no fumes or smoke or alcohol, no sharp objects, no inessential needles – drug or tattoo – and… no inessential penises, either.”  Pretty decent advice, actually.  Later in the book, two main characters have sex.  Nothing graphic.

Another one of the opening scenes takes place in Karou’s art class with a nude model.  This is generally a more amusing scene than an offensive one, however.

The angels and demons in Taylor’s world have some interesting relations to those of Christian theology—basically humans saw these paranormal creatures and built religion around them, trying to explain what they saw.  But the angels and demons really are not in any way close to the divine, nor do they have any sort of mission relating to humans or their spiritual welfare.  Expect interesting species, but little theology.

               

Marked by Kim Richardson

Goodreads: Marked

Series: Soul Guardians #1

Publication Date: March 18, 2011

Source: Free e-book

Summary:

Kara Nightingale is dead.  But when she woke up, she was not in Heaven, she was in Horizon, where the elevators are run by grumpy monkeys—and she is supposed to train to become a guardian angel.  With the roguish Petty Officer David McGowan as her supervisor, she takes on the job with some success.  Yet more demons show up on their missions than is normal, and David suspects that Kara herself is calling them.

Conclusions:

Relatively innocuous, if a little weird.  Kara briefly laments the fact she is flat-chested, using such fun expressions as the “boob-fairy had never visited” and “her feminine curves had been flattened by a giant spatula.”

 On the angel-side of things, these particular beings have little relationship to those of Christian theology, barring the fact they have appropriated a few terms like “cherub,” “archangel,” and “guardian angel” to classify themselves. (God here is the “Chief” and only really high-ranking angels even get to see him.)  In fact, the angels tend to be quite human, including experiencing emotions like selfishness, anger, and hatred.  They also occasionally swear, employing mild works like “crap.”

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Goodreads: Unearthly

Series: Unearthly #1

Publication Date: Jan. 4, 2011

Source: Purchased

Summary:

A few years ago, Clare Gardner discovered she has angel blood.  Now, as she strives to uncover her life’s purpose, she is dreaming of a boy in a forest fire—a boy she assumes she must save.  Her family  packs up and moves to Wyoming, where they believe this mysterious boy lives, but discovering what Clare is supposed to do with him or even becoming friends with him proves harder than she would have thought.

Conclusions:

This book is effectively clean and has a very sweet romance!  It is also the only one of these three novels where the angels are very obviously called to a higher code of conduct than humans. Angels have a link with God and are supposed to fulfill a “purpose.”  When they start doing questionable things, their white wings begin turning gray and can eventually be completely black.  The angels have been somewhat humanized for the purposes of the story, of course, but Hand does a nice job blending this with the divine.