ARC Review: A Really Awesome Mess

A Really Awesome Mess by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin
4/5 stars
EgmontUSA, 2013
275 pages
YA Contemporary
Scheduled to release July 23

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

I wanted to read this because of previous experiences with these authors' writing (Notes From the Blender was coauthored by them and Halpin cowrote these two others with another writer: The Half-Life of Planets and Tessa Masterson WILL Go to Prom). Like those books, this alternates between a male and a female perspective allowing for more insight into character and the relationships around them while also touching on romance and deeper family issues. As a bonus, this was definitely my favorite of these cowritten books, as I found it hilarious and moving despite the unlikely setting of a reform school for teens with psychiatric problems.

We first meet Emmy who does not feel wanted within her family, being the tiny adopted Chinese daughter while her perfect younger sister is obviously the favorite. She also has anger issues and, as is observed by our other narrator, is anorexic. That other narrator is Justin who ends up in the reform school due to his sexual activities and a suicide attempt, revealing his battle with depression. The two of them plus four others form an offbeat group that together begins to face their issues and develop appropriate ways of handling them.

What I enjoyed most was definitely the humor, which I wasn't really expecting. Though the synopsis teases funny, I figured it would be more serious as the characters have very real dark problems. As someone who loves comedy, I appreciated the lighter touch here though some of the reviews I've seen seemed to want it handled more seriously. I can see where that desire comes from but I was fine to just enjoy the laughter.

My favorite parts come from the characters interacting. For example, when the group first starts meeting, they all hate each other. However incentives cause them to band together and really progress in their healing. I loved all of the group scenes and couldn't believe everything they managed to get up to in such a restricted setting. Now I do think the adventure toward the end was way over the top (it involves leaving campus to set free a smuggled pig) but in keeping with the lightweight tone of the book overall.

Unfortunately the humor does somewhat trivialize the serious problems faced by the kids. I had some trouble rationalizing that in my head. I can sometimes over-empathize with book characters so I desperately wanted them all to be healed and to receive the love and care they need to build better lives while also realizing that such healing doesn't happen over night. I wouldn't want to suggest that depression, anorexic, etc. was something to laugh about and yet I also understand the desire to put these issues in the light and show that they can be faced, especially if you have good friends who make you laugh. (I think this paragraph may be a bit muddled but it all makes sense in my head, I promise!)

Content warning: Some language, violence, and sexual talk and situations-I found it all very organic and fitting but I'm sure it would bother some readers.

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Tessa Masterson WILL Go to Prom

Tessa Masterson WILL Go to Prom by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin
Walker & Company, 2012
257 pages
YA; Contemporary
4/5 stars

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

I was interested by the bright bold cover that bespoke a fun upbeat contemporary. Plus it is told through two alternating narrators, one of my favorite techniques. For one more bonus, we have a hot current events topic: homosexuality and all of that controversery that stirs up if a girl should decide she wants to take the person she likes to the prom, if that person happens to also be female.

Our two narrators are the titular Tessa and Lucas, her long-time best friend. After thinking over their closeness, Lucas decides he is in love with Tessa and will ask her to the prom as a big romantic gesture. However Tessa, instead of happily accepting as anticipated, confesses to Lucas that she is gay and sort of involved with another girl who will hopefully accompany her to prom. This quickly leaks out in their small-town and soon a firestorm erupts due to Lucas' impolitic words.

Lucas is not at all careful with his words and they are used as additional support for those who do not want Tessa and her girlfriend at the prom. This also prompts people to lead a boycott against Tessa's parents' grocery store and eventually to close down the prom. Happily this is when Lucas finally steps up and plans their own dance of inclusivity.

If you thought I was focusing a lot on Lucas so far in this review, that is for a reason. I found Lucas to be a much more compelling personality even as he pushes against his best friend, causes her pain, and embarrasses his cool mother. I really grew to like him after being mad at him for his meanness to Tessa because he redeems himself as he starts to fight for Tessa's rights.

Meanwhile Tessa is a much more private person, which extends to keeping the reader at arm's length. I could not get a sense of her and therefore I gravitated to Lucas, ending up preferring his narration far more. This is also a potential problem in dual narrative books-finding one character lackluster and the other exciting and sadly it occurred for me here.

Overall: Strong, pointed writing in places but weak characterization of Tessa did not endear her to me.

Cover: From the thumbnail, I could not distinguish that a tux is shown but that is perfect and eye-catching for this cover.

Notes From the Blender

Notes From the Blender by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin
Egmont, 2011
229 pages
YA; Contemporary
4/5 stars

Source: Library

I love the idea of a book cowritten (I'm thinking back to P.S. Longer Letter Later from my elementary school days) so I picked this up, hoping for a funny contemporary.  It actually ended up being more than I thought with its insight into familial relationships, friendships, and religion, the last a most welcome surprise. I love when secular fiction includes depictions of religion. This one features a youth group at a very liberal church (led by a lesbian pastor) as well as a commitment ceremony for a gay couple.

Dec and Neilly are at completely opposite ends of the popularity scale at school. She seemingly has everything while he listens to dark heavy metal and is generally ignored. He also happens to have a crush on Neilly while she doesn't even know he's alive. Each learns that they are going to become part of a blended family in singularly awful ways that is further compounded by the discovery that they will also be receiving a new half-sibling.

At the start, each character seems to fit a mold but as the story progresses, secret depths are revealed. While Dec listens to heavy metal, worrying his widowed father, Dec doesn't draw on that anger. Instead he finds it inspirational and works to make things better such as his introduction to veganism. Neilly is a popular girl whose gay father earned her a lot of scorn and who learns about really matters. They're both good kids and fun characters in this moving contemporary.

Warning: Language-lots of cursing and sexual references. Admittedly this did put me off. There is a lot of it, starting right at the beginning. If you read the first chapter and are displeased, I do not recommend you finishing this book. If these had not been included, I think I would have liked this more-just my preference for cleanness in books!

The Half-Life of Planets

The Half-Life of Planets by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin
Hyperion, 2010
247 pages
YA; Contemporary
4/5 stars

Source: Library

Summary: This is another book with chapters alternating perspectives, this time between Liana Planet and Hank Rollins.  If you were going to sum them up with one word, you might choose "slut" and "Asperger's" respectively but that would be inaccurate because there's so much more. The book as a whole covers about one summer and traces the evolution of their relationship, their ups and their downs.

Thoughts: As I said, the chapters of this book alternate between the two characters, a technique I've seen a lot lately and which I like.  The problem is that usually I prefer one character to the other.  In this case it's Hank.  I loved his music trivia and his voice-he uses proper English with no slang and is a polite young man.  He is often baffled by the way people act but he wants to be part of the dating scene and to get closer to Liana.

Now I don't exactly know why as Liana was kind of annoying and boring.  I liked that she was interested in science and her family dynamic-her father is a hypochondriac workaholic and her mother is an uptight baker psychologist.  That stood out in the sea of stupid girl YA paranormal romances.  She's mostly okay but she spends an awful lot of time worrying about the note she received saying "slut."  Her chapters dragged on as I waited for the return to Hank's voice.

Overall: Cute story but I strongly preferred one voice to the other and that dragged the rating down.

Cover: It's okay-I picked it after seeing that it was written by two authors and completely ignored the cover.