Gwendy's Button Box

Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar Book 164 pages

From Publisher's Weekly: "It's 1974 when 12-year-old Gwendy Peterson is offered a magic box by a man named Richard Farris, whom she meets at the top of one of the cliffside Suicide Stairs in Castle Rock, Maine. Farris wears a "small neat black hat" and seems to know just who Gwendy is and what she wants. Eight buttons grace the mahogany box he offers to Gwendy, and a lever dispenses silver dollars and intricate chocolates that Farris claims will help Gwendy lose weight and escape being called "Goodyear" by her classmates. Lose weight she does, but that's not all. Wonderful things keep happening in Gwendy's life, and she's happier than she's ever been. But when she decides to press one of the buttons, the consequences are horrendous."

I enjoyed reading this book. However, it did take some adjusting to realize that it wasn't going to be scary despite its authors. It is billed as horror, but I found no horror and also not a lot of suspense. The story reads like a normal life of a young girl who turns into a young woman. The addition of the button box is what makes it slightly different. Of course this is not an original story line, but it was nicely done. The box has some profound effects on Gwendy's life, but I felt sorry for her as the bad circumstances weren't her fault. I did like Gwendy, she was doing the best she could with what she had. As is usually the case with these types of stories, she had to discover a lot of information on her own. Sometimes I find teen characters hard to read, but I applaud King and Chizmar with their writing of the protagonist. After she pressed the red button the first time and blamed herself for a tragedy, I thought that was going to be the theme for this book. I was grateful it wasn't. This was an easy read that keeps the reader engaged. Although there are some holes in the story, I still liked it. The plot of the book suggests that it should have been longer. The black button alone deserved more page time, but that's a novella for you. Throughout the story and at the end, I could not help but wonder what Gwendy's life would have been like if she had never received the button box. I wonder if that was the authors' intent. Hmmm....

Witch & Wizard

Witch & Wizard: the manga Vol. 1-3 by James Patterson, 751 pages (3 books)

 

Witch and Wizard, the manga, is about two kids named Wisty and Whit who thought they were like all of the other kids until government agents break into their home and arrest them and their parents. The charges witchcraft. Now this is not one of those time were people are wrongly accused, they certainly can do magic but why that is illegal is very suspect. Separated from their parents, Wisty and Whit must learn to control their magic and escape, after all it seems the world is relying on them.

So I originally thought all three books in this series were all adapted pieces of the source novel Witch and Wizard. Having never read the actual book, this delusion continued right up until I started researching this series to write this post. It turns out that each manga book is based off a book in the novel series. The first follows Witch and Wizard, the second was based off of The Gift, and the last “completed” the series with The Fire. Patterson has two more book in the novel series, though I cannot find anything that says these will be adapted. I find this directly correlated manga to be quite strange. Typically when a book is adapted into this format it becomes several volumes. I have to wonder how much of the storyline was cut out for a one to one adaptation.

The Secret Place

The Secret Place, by Tana French, 464 pages

Stephen Moran is trying to get out of Cold Cases and into The Murder Squad- the group of detectives in Dublin who investigate murder cases.  It looks like he has his chance when a girl from an upscale boarding school approaches him with what may be a clue to a previously unsolved murder on the school grounds. This mystery had lots of restating of conversations and situations that had already been explained, and dialogue with teenage girls that featured so many "like"s and italicized emphases and upward inflections that it literally gave me a headache to read.  It felt very padded, and the ending was not much of a surprise.  However, if you really wanted to read a mystery that reminds you of how very mean and cruel teenage girls can be, then this may appeal. Other book club members spoke very highly of the other books by Tana French, so maybe this one was an outlier.  

Deception's Pawn

Deception's Pawn by Esther M. Friesner
386 pages

Maeve, princess of Connacht, seems to have won her freedom. Her father, the High King, is finally allowing her to explore the world beyond his castle. But Maeve soon discovers that being the High King's daughter doesn't protect her from bullying or the attention of unwelcome suitors.

Struggling to navigate a new court, she must discourage the advances of her father's rival, who is vying with her host's son for her hand in marriage. Maeve is a pawn trapped between these two boys. Her bold defiance will bring her to the brink of disaster, but her clever gamble may also lead to her independence. Though she faces danger and intrigue, Maeve will also discover what kind of person-and queen-she's destined to become.

I didn't enjoy this as some of Esther Friesner's other Princess of Myth stories. This one, as one reviewer put it, was basically "Mean Girls of the Iron Age" - Maeve is placed in another household and her other female companions can be quite nasty. I would have preferred some serious sword slinging to mud flinging. 

Dark Rooms

Dark Rooms by Lili Anolik
323 Pages

"Death sets the plot in motion: the murder of Nica Baker, beautiful, wild, enigmatic, and only sixteen. The crime is solved, and quickly--a lonely classmate, unrequited love, a suicide note confession--but memory and instinct won't allow Nica's older sister, Grace, to accept the case as closed. Dropping out of college and living at home, working at the moneyed and progressive private high school in Hartford, Connecticut, from which she recently graduated, Grace becomes increasingly obsessed with identifying and punishing the real killer"

This book should be very popular with new adults since it has a young adult vibe with some adult themes.  Not a bad book, 3 stars out of 5.

A Slipping Down Life

A Slipping Down Life by Anne Tyler
186 Pages

"Evie Decker is a shy, slightly plump teenager, lonely and silent. But her quiet life is shattered when she hears the voice of Drumstrings Casey on the radio and becomes instantly attracted to him. She manages to meet him, bursting out of her lonely shell--and into the attentive gaze of the intangible man who becomes all too real."

Not my favorite Anne Tyler book, I found Evie to be a strange and unsympathetic character.  

Before He Finds Her

Before He Finds Her by Michael Kardos
369 Pages

"Everyone in the quiet Jersey Shore town of Silver Bay knows the story: on a Sunday evening in September 1991, Ramsey Miller threw a blowout block party, then murdered his beautiful wife and three-year-old daughter. But everyone is wrong. The daughter got away. Now she is nearly eighteen and tired of living in secrecy. Under the name Melanie Denison, she has spent the last fifteen years in small-town West Virginia as part of the Witness Protection Program. She has never been allowed to travel, go to a school dance, or even have internet at home. Precautions must be taken at every turn, because Ramsey Miller was never caught and might still be looking for his daughter. Yet despite strict house rules, Melanie has entered into a relationship with a young teacher at the local high school and is now ten weeks pregnant. She doesn't want her child to live in hiding as she has had to. Defying her guardians and taking matters into her own hands, Melanie returns to Silver Bay in hopes of doing what the authorities have failed to do: find her father before he finds her. "

The author tells the story of Melanie and her quest for the truth interspersed with the events that happened to Ramsey Miller and his wife leading up to the murder in 1991.  Well written this book will be popular with those who like mysteries.

A tale for the time being

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
422 Pages

"In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there's only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates' bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who's lived more than a century. A diary is Nao's only solace--and will touch lives in ways she can scarcely imagine. Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox--possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao's drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future."

 I enjoyed this novel although at times I was a little confused with the time analogies.  It was recommended by Ann Patchett on her blog for Parnassus books and like Ms. Patchett, I originally didn't choose to read this novel because the cover was a little off-putting.  So I did judge a book by its cover.  I am happy to have read it.

Bone Clocks

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
624 Pages


The character of Holly Sykes finds herself the center of a war between two small groups of people who have a magical ability.  One group is able to reincarnate into new bodies as they die, keeping their past memories.  The other group leaches off the physic abilities of others to extend their lives.  However the book isn't really about this struggle which fades into the background for the majority of the books.  Instead it is a series of different parts, with different narrators, all of whom touch on Holly's life.  Some narrators/parts are unsympathetic and it was difficult to get through them.  Other parts were better and I wish they would have been longer.  There were several times when I was tempted to put the book down and give up but overall it was a good book and I'm happy I finished.

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands  by Chris Bohjalian     266 pages

 I fell in love with Chris Bohjalian’s writings about a year after Oprah picked his novel Midwives as her Book Club Pick. I’ve read almost everything he’s written since then. Some I’ve loved; other not as much. But let me tell you, Bohjalian’s seventeenth novel Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is probably his best yet.

His last three novels have been historical novels, but here he returns to contemporary times. Sixteen-year-old Emily Shepard has a rather normal life. She fights with her parents, hates her life, and could do better in school if she applied herself.
Emily’s dad is the chief engineer at a nuclear power plant in what is called the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont; her mother is the plant’s communications director. After the Prologue, Emily begins to tell what happened on the day there was a meltdown at the plant. It’s painfully obvious to Emily that her parents, who were both working that day, are dead. Her school has been evacuated to another town. Sure she will be held the scapegoat for what happened, Emily runs away. Unable to cope with the loss of her parents, she refuses to search the Internet as to avoid a possible truth: that her parents are really dead and that her father was drunk.

Determined to get home, she sets off to find her beloved dog, Maggie, or at least bury what may be left of her. Along the way, she prostitutes herself, does drugs, and becomes the adult in nine-year-old Cameron’s life. She even divides her life into two sections: B. C. (before Cameron) and A.C. (afterCameron)

Emily is fascinated with poet Emily Dickinson, who plays a key part of the story.  She even makes some interesting connections between Dickinson’s poetry and a classic 1960s sit-com.

Bohjalian does a perfect job of finding the voice of a sixteen year old; it’s amazing really.

White Space

White Space by Ilsa Bick                                551 pages

This is the first book in a new series by this author.  Emma has always had issues but her world is getting weirder by the minute.  She has always had fugue moments, that she calls blinks, when she is unaware of what’s going on in the real world and instead has glimpses into other worlds, specifically, the life of a little girl named Lizzie.  Lizzie’s dad is a writer but it seems that some of the characters and scenes from his books can become real.  Emma has just blinked back from one of these visions while she and a friend are driving when she realizes that they are lost.  She isn’t even sure they are in right state anymore.  Not long after, Emma’s nightmare begins.  I would call this a fantasy horror for teens.  This book reminded me a little of The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith.  It was really good and I can’t wait for the sequel.  I think that a lot of teens would enjoy this book.

Cress

Cress by Marissa Meyer

552 Pages

 

The third book in the Lunar Chronicles series picks up where Scarlet left off.  Cinder Linh is still running from both the Lunar and Earth authorities because Levana, the Queen, knows that she is actually Princess Selene, the rightful heir, and on Earth, she is wanted for attempting to harm Kai, the Emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth.  Cinder is determined to overthrow Levana, and with the help of Captain Thorne, Scarlet, Wolf, and Iko, she has a plan.  When they receive a signal from Cress, who is a Lunar shell, confined to a satellite by a Lunar thaumaturge, they decide to attempt to rescue her.  Cress, under orders to locate Cinder, has done so, but instead of revealing her location has hidden her from everyone Lunar and Earthen.  When the rescue attempt goes wrong, Cinder has to revise plans quickly and hope that she can still accomplish all of her goals.  These are fun retellings of fairy tales.  Teens that like fantasy will like this new book in the series.

Ashes To Ashes

Ashes To Ashes by Melissa Walker 325 Pages

Callie has always been a risk taker and the day her father gives her a BMW, she has to drive it too fast, of course.  Surprisingly, she wakes up after the accident.  Also surprisingly, she meets three ghosts who say they are there to help guide her through her haunting.  Callie did die in the crash and now she has to help her friends and family let go of her, so they can heal and move on.  The only problem is Callie isn’t sure she wants that.  What she might want is to go back or at least make them aware of her presence.  Another group of ghosts are willing to help her do just that, but they have to borrow her energy to do it, which leaves her feeling weak.  Her main guide, Thatcher, is keeping things from her so she isn’t sure she can trust him.  But the other group, led by Leo and Reena, are doing things that don’t seem quite right and when she tries some of their techniques with her friends, it seems to make them more unhappy instead of at peace, so she doesn’t know who to trust.  This was a very compelling book with an unexpected ending.  Teens who enjoy unconventional ghost stories will like this book.