Prep School Confidential

Prep School Confidential by Kara Taylor
4/5 stars
Thomas Dunne Books, 2013
304 pages
YA Contemporary Mystery

Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Yay-I am finally getting to this! I have seen loads of reviews from my blogging friends and was hopeful that this boarding school setting combined with murder would enthrall me. The reviews I saw were mostly positive with some qualms so I had hopes.

I am very pleased to be on the positive side as I was utterly charmed by bold and brassy Anne Dowling, our heroine. She begins the book as queen of the school but is quickly kicked out after she almost burns it down. Instead she is shuffled off to a boarding school outside of Boston. Within a week her new roommate Isabella is killed and since the administration seems determined to cover it up, Anne takes it upon herself to identify who done it, uncovering layers of hypocrisy and corruption in the process while also juggling two very intriguing boys.

As I said, Anne rocks! In a rather rigid environment, she is somewhat messy and pushes up against that which she knows to be wrong. I particularly enjoyed her anger over the general lack of apathy toward Isabella's murder (Isabella being a scholarship student without famous parents and thus "not worthy") and toward the adults for covering everything up. In fact, Anne has a lot of understandable anger that she mostly channels in a productive way (tracking down Isabella's murderer). She's also snarky and kept cracking me up, which kept the pages turning.

You may notice that this review is mostly talking about Anne. That is for good reason because as our narrator and protagonist, we spend the most time with her. The aforementioned boys were not very interesting to me though I can see that she has made a clear choice by the end-we'll see if that holds up.

Meanwhile I found the mystery itself a bit confusing. It starts out seemingly straightforward (someone is killed) but soon many threads are added like the FBI tracking a teacher, a big sexual harassment case covered up, a parent's extortion, etc. That adds up and I had some trouble following it all. This is a long-winded way of saying that I did not figure out the murderer and was completely blindsided. Luckily Anne also had not really anticipated this person so we were caught off guard together.

Overall: A surprisingly fun murder mystery that left me eager for the sequel, due out next year!

Other Opinions:
Bananas for Books
Books Live Forever
In Bed With Books
Into the Hall of Books
Michelle and Leslie's Book Picks
The Book Babe's Reads

Stormdancer

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
4/5 stars
Thomas Dunne Books, 2012
322 pages
Adult Steampunk Fantasy

Source: Received an ARC through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.

This has been one of the most anticipated books of the fall, I would say, capturing the attention of the YA community from what I can see despite it being technically an adult novel. All of this buzz of course had me intrigued so I was pleased to receive a copy, hoping to add my voice to those praising it.

Unfortunately I did not immediately fall into the world. This was partly because I was sick when I started and my attention span was limited but also due to the writing style. The first chapter is set toward the end of the story and just drops us into it but then the next chapter goes to the beginning introducing a flurry of characters and the world-building. The setting reminded me of Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin, where pollution has destroyed the earth and the air. The wealthy wear masks; the poor deal with kerchiefs and goggles to protect themselves from the filth.

But the plot is vastly different: basically the all-powerful emperor wants a griffin, an arashitora so that he can be a stormdancer like mythic emperors of yore. Problem is that they are presumed extinct due to that pollution that is destroying the earth. However his royal hunter dutifully sets off bringing along his companions including sixteen-year old daughter Yukiko who was introduced in that confusing first chapter. They do manage to find, capture and clip the wings of one during a storm but their ship goes down, stranding Yukiko with the griffin who she names Buruu and presumably leaving everyone else dead. Now the pair have to band together in order to survive.

That's the beginning but the book still has more plot to reveal, following fairly predictable paths. I wasn't super surprised by any of the twists the book took but I think the real strength is supposed to be in the world and characterization. Due to my struggling with the writing, I didn't get much of a sense of that in the first half. Fortunately as the book continues, the story moved into the forefront and the writing was less confusing. I especially ended up loving the emperor's sister Lady Aisha with her beauty and kindness.

There is also a very lackluster romantic love triangle. Yukiko lusts after one guy who was nothing special as far as I could see while a second languishes in the background.  I would have been okay for Yukiko to have no romance but to have such a disappointing one kind of wrecked that whole angle.

Overall: Confusing writing style slowed my entry into the world but compelling characters kept me going.

Cover: I love seeing the griffin and the reds although I wish Yukiko got to be wailing on someone instead of being poised to inflict massive violence.

Tempest

Tempest by Julie Cross
Thomas Dunne Books, 2012
334 pages
YA; Time Travel
3.5/5 stars

Source: Received an ARC from Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.

This book has had a generous publicity campaign; I remember seeing it mentioned in Entertainment Weekly along with the news that the film rights had been bought and I've seen many reviews of it around the blogosphere. Meanwhile I was excited about a male MC (since I tend to prefer female) of college age, lots of exciting action, and a perennial beloved topic of mine, time travel.

However this is not time travel as I like to picture time travel. My time travel is free-wheeling and crosses time and space at the mere whim of the imaginer (my time travel is more fun!)  This one seems more grounded in what time travel might be like as main character Jackson is limited to his own life, and very short jumps at that. Throughout the book he is experimenting with the parameters of his ability along with the help of his genius friend Adam.

But besides time travel, Jackson is very focused on his girlfriend Holly; when two men break into her dorm room and shoot her, it kicks off a very strange succession of events, starting with Jackson jumping around his past.  Most of the book actually takes place in 2007, two years before the story is set, when Jackson is supposed to be a high school senior and before he has met Holly.

Once he realizes he is stuck there, he sets out to track down Adam for help and Holly because he can't imagine being without her.  Now I have nothing against Holly but she didn't have much substance so I'm not really sure why Jackson cares so much. Of course, Jackson is kind of a tool; there were a lot of times I didn't like him. I thought Adam had a much stronger characterization and was more sympathetic. Holly didn't do much other than being the girlfriend to Jackson. Beyond these important peers, Jackson also has to confront memories of his dead in 2009 twin sister and his relationship with his father, which is not the strongest. Additionally there are other time travelers and most of them seem to have malevolent intentions. As you might guess, there is a lot going on!

A tricky element for time travel books is keeping track of when exactly it is. For the most part the book is successful, but sometimes my attention wandered and I was confused about who knew what. One thing I appreciated, although it didn't always work out like I wanted, was that Jackson cannot change the past when he jumps. I'm not entirely sure how that works because there are times he definitely interferes but it does not materially change the present.

Overall: Some fun action, exploring time travel and tough decisions but the characters didn't grab me. Jackson was a very matter of fact narrator who kept the narrative moving fast but didn't let me inside.